M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy (Jeff Donaldson)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5169 · NGC 5173 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · NGC 5198 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

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(Right side of M51), 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. Hubble’s clear view shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind M51. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years.

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Description: Cropped in on M51

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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.

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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.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3363513
PixInsight job	M8AFL5Y0AYKU39VSFI7S08YL5TAB1BCE
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m49s.891
RA (top/left)	13h31m58s.509
RA (top/right)	13h34m44s.272
RA (bottom/right)	13h27m36s.500
RA (bottom/left)	13h25m02s.480

Dec (center)	+47°12′05″.91
Dec (top/left)	+46°13′48″.61
Dec (top/right)	+47°49′40″.16
Dec (bottom/right)	+48°10′13″.39
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°33′45″.52

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M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 / Whirlpool Galaxy

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