Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  HD117403  ·  HD117815  ·  IC 4263  ·  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5169  ·  NGC 5173  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  NGC 5198  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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The Whirlpool in Canes Venatici - M51 and NGC 5195, Fran D.
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The Whirlpool in Canes Venatici - M51 and NGC 5195

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The Whirlpool in Canes Venatici - M51 and NGC 5195, Fran D.
Powered byPixInsight

The Whirlpool in Canes Venatici - M51 and NGC 5195

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The spiral galaxy M51 and its companion galaxy NGC 5195 are located in the constellation Canes Venatici. One model  hypothesizes that NGC 5195 passed through the main disk of M51 from behind approximately 550 million years ago, and then traveled back through M51 some 50 - 100 million years ago to its present position, slightly behind M51. This interaction is thought to have been a factor in the spiral structure, as well as the  development of star producing regions that created the bright blue knots visible in the spiral arms.

Data was acquired over a three night span. Drizzle integration was used and the image was processed as HaLRGB.

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The Whirlpool in Canes Venatici - M51 and NGC 5195, Fran D.