Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
Powered byPixInsight

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
Powered byPixInsight

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be 31 million light-years away from Earth.

[It] was discovered on October 13, 1773, by Charles Messier while hunting for objects that could confuse comet hunters, and was designated in Messier's catalogue as M51. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, although it was not known whether it was interacting or merely another galaxy passing at a distance. The advent of radio astronomy and subsequent radio images of M51 unequivocally demonstrated that the Whirlpool and its companion galaxy are indeed interacting.

Source: Wikipedia

Comments

Revisions

  • M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
    Original
  • M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
    C
  • M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
    D
  • Final
    M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins
    E

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, jeremy.wiggins