Messier Object 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy (AstroPoverty)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · M 51 · NGC 5169 · NGC 5173 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · NGC 5198 · Whirlpool Galaxy

Messier Object 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy, AstroPoverty

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Messier Object 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

This image depicts the larger spiral galaxy (M51) and its smaller companion galaxy (NGC 5195). These galaxies are of particular interest because they are interacting with one another due to an actual collision approximately 600 million years ago. You can see the elongated "tail" of the spiral galaxy as its smaller companion distorts the outermost parts of the structure. Of interest here is that this is a likely fate for our own Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. These two galaxies are expected to collide in about 3 billion years. Our Sun will still be alive by then, but much nearer to the end of its life (and the inevitable red-giant phase).

These galaxies are located in the constellation Canes Venatici some 27 million light years distant. Despite its official location, this galaxy pair is very close the the "crook" of the Big Dipper (Mizar) in the north.

Also of note here is that this image was originally intended as a test of the new EM-200, but this single frame turned out ok, I think.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6648300
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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Messier Object 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Messier Object 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

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