Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4263  ·  IC 4277  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, AstroGeoGuy2590
M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
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M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, AstroGeoGuy2590
M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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Description

This is the aptly-named Whirlpool Galaxy, M 51 (NGC 5194). It's a grand-design spiral galaxy 80,000 ly across and about 31 Mly away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The smaller yellowish galaxy to its right is NGC 5195. This smaller galaxy passed through the larger one perhaps twice in the last few hundred million years, scattering stars and gas and dust out into a diffuse plume around the smaller galaxy. There are also lots of fainter much more distant galaxies in this image. This image was made by stacking 163 60-sec exposures at iso 800 taken over two nights in February (another cold night!).

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M 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, AstroGeoGuy2590