The great eclipse of 2024 is behind us now and life is returning to normal in Bloomington, Indiana. It’s Spring, leaves are out, and flowers are blooming. Tomorrow is the great Little 500 bike race on the IUB campus. All is well again. 

But such serenity is not, uh, universal!

Behold the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51a and b)! It is found in the northern sky within the Canes Venatici constellation. Its perhaps 25 million light years from our own Milky Way.

Whirlpool was the first galaxy where astronomers in the golden age of telescopes could tell had a specific structure. Old man Charles Messier (that’s where the “M” comes from in one sky catalog) first noted the mass in his notes from 1773. Decades later, in 1845, William Parsons (the 3rd Earl of Rosse for those keeping track) looked through his 6 foot reflector and sketched the now familiar spiral pattern.

At that time they didn’t know what galaxies were. But both could tell that there seemed to be more than one part to Whirlpool.

It wouldn’t be until 1920 that Edwin Hubble (yup, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 Hubble) was able to measure the distance reliably and our world learned lots of stuff was way beyond our own galaxy, that the universe was a bit larger than expected.

While the exact dynamics remain unconfirmed, these two galactic masses are definitely interacting. One body, M51b, appears to have lost its spirals. And it’s quite clear that its gravity has altered the shape of spirals on M51a. When scientists tried to plot the bodies’ trajectory, it was determined that the little guy may have passed through the larger galaxy about a half a billion years ago.

Astounding images reveal dense veins of hydrogen coursing through the spirals of the larger galaxy, hosting regions of star formation that emit a fiery red glow.

And, 100 years after Edwin Hubble’s work, the space telescope named for him produced a rather humbling picture of the spectacle. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/.../d/db/Messier51_sRGB.jpg

(why do I even bother with this hobby! Well, I did my picture from the driveway while having a beer. At least I can say I did it myself).

But wait, there's more! Most recently, astronomers have made a mind-blowing announcement. They were able to measure the existence of a 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 orbiting a binary star system within Whirlpool. If confirmed by colleagues, this would be the first known discovery of a planet 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 the Milky Way galaxy.

Which, of course, brings to mind an image of some unrecognizable life form sitting in its driveway far, far away, drinking a beer, writing about what our galaxy looks like.

Tonight’s thoughts were written to Todd Gustavsen Trio's tune 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘐𝘵.