Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) (JDAstroPhoto)

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

I invite you to gaze at light that is 23 million years old, that's correct, you are looking into the past 23 million years ago. That is how long the light from the Whirlpool galaxy takes to get to earth. Looking from earth we leave the comfort of the stars of our own Milky Way Galaxy traveling through the nothingness of intergalactic space to see this light which is 23 million years old. As you can see the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is interacting with a neighboring galaxy NGC 5195 in a dance that we do not know the outcome of. What is the state of these two galaxies today? Did M51's gravity overwhelm NGC 5195 and they merged? Alas, maybe, but we only can see the past (23 million years ago), not the present.
On a numbers scale the numbers are mind boggling. In our own Milky Way Galaxy there are at least 100 billion stars, traveling 23 million light years across intergalactic space there is the Whirlpool Galaxy with 100 billion stars. Now, look closely at the image in full resolution, look for some smaller galaxies, each of which probably have another 100 billion stars. How many can you find?
The dust lanes between the spiral arms are birthplaces for new stars in the Whirlpool Galaxy.
Please click on the link to start your intergalactic journey through the cold darkness of space.

SDAA AISIG Group

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
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.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

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