M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa (Girish Muralidharan)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4277 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. Such striking arms are a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. In M51, also known as the Whirlpool galaxy, these arms serve an important purpose: they are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars.

Some astronomers think that the Whirlpool’s arms are particularly prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the arms. The compact galaxy appears to be tugging on the arm, the tidal forces from which trigger new star formation.

Milwaukee Astronomical Society
Takahashi Refractors

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4675388
PixInsight job	CTUXOZJFABOE59P8K6JY1Z6PPLPML3UM
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m52s.811
RA (top/left)	13h31m26s.319
RA (top/right)	13h28m20s.112
RA (bottom/right)	13h28m20s.296
RA (bottom/left)	13h31m24s.535

Dec (center)	+47°11′36″.13
Dec (top/left)	+47°28′21″.73
Dec (top/right)	+47°28′28″.97
Dec (bottom/right)	+46°54′45″.81
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°54′38″.74

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGBHa

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