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

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Whirlpool Galaxy, Rick Veregin
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Whirlpool Galaxy

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Description

The very prominent spiral arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy (NGC5194) are thought to be an effect of the tidal forces in a hundred-million year encounter with NGC5195, the small yellowish galaxy at the tip of one of the spiral arms. Hubble's images show clearly that NGC5195 is actually passing behind the Whirlpool from our line of sight. The yellow color is from older stars, red is from hydrogen in giant star-forming regions, and blue is from hot young stars. M51 is about 30 million light-years from us and is the first object to be classified as a spiral galaxy, by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse in 1845, though only proven to be a separate galaxy in its own right, i.e. not part of our galaxy, by Edwin Hubble in 1920.

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Whirlpool Galaxy, Rick Veregin