Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool galaxy
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M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up), Ruben Barbosa
M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up)
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M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up)

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M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up), Ruben Barbosa
M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up)
Powered byPixInsight

M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up)

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Description

* Image acquisition by Liverpool Telescope.

* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.

* Distance: 30 Mly.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a Seyfert type spiral, located more than 30 million light-years away from Earth.

Its majestic arms rise like a spiral staircase made up of gas and dust, where young stars can be found practically to the bright nucleus, where the oldest ones reside. In fact, the arms function as a stellar maternity because it is due to the sweeping pressure exerted on the gas (hydrogen) that new stars end up emerging. Here, the birth of the new stars begins in the darker zones of gas located inside the spiral arms, which then evolve into the bright areas in shades of pink, ending at the outer edges of light blue.

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M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy (close-up), Ruben Barbosa