Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), JohnEEvans
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
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The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

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The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), JohnEEvans
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
Powered byPixInsight

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

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Description

M51 is a grand design spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. It is about 31 million light-years away from Earth and is about 76,900 light-years in diameter. It has two prominent clockwise spirals, one of which is interacting gravitationally with its neighbouring galaxy, NGC 5195.

M51 is about 88% of the size of our Milky Way and has about 10% of its mass.

This is an LRGBHa image.

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The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), JohnEEvans