M51, aptly named the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici and is 31 million light years distant. In this orientation, M51 appears to be giving its companion galaxy NGC 5195 an uppercut. I captured this HaLRGB image from my backyard in Upstate New York USA, using an Ioptron 8 inch Ritchey Chretien paired with a 1600mm riding on an Orion Atlas Eqg, over the course of about 23 nights from mid April to mid May of 2022. The weather was less than cooperative, producing only six nights free of clouds, rain, or high winds. Captured with NINA, calibrated and stacked in Astro Pixel Processor, and processed in Pixinsight.
"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 31 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, who study it to understand galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions." Information Credit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy
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