SOCO IMAGE GALLERY


 

M 51    The Whirlpool Galazy

M 51 (NGC 5194 and NGC 5195) in the constellation Canes Venatici is a classic example of an interacting pair of galaxies. The companion galaxy NGC 5195 orbits the larger spiral NGC 5194 and, while it appears that the two galaxies are linked through one of the larger galaxy's spiral arms, NGC 5195 is actually located around 5000,000 LY behind the larger galaxy. Interactions between the two have caused the spiral arms of NGC 5194 to be warped in the direction of the companion. The larger galaxy has a diameter of around 87,000 LY, making it slightly smaller than our Milky Way Galaxy. The smaaler companion galaxy was originally thought to be an irregular galaxy like M 82, but recent studies indicate that it is really what is left of a barred spiral galaxy. A halo of older, reddish stars surrounds NGC 5195 and is just visible in my image. The pair lie at a distance of 26.8 million LY from us.
M 51 was discovered by Charles Messier on the night of 13 October 1773. He described it as a "very faint nebula without stars", so he was unaware of its true nature. Messier later credited his colleague Pierre Mechain with the discovery (in March 1781) of the companion object. The true nature of the object as a pair of galaxies was first described by the Earl of Rosse in 1843.

Date(s) Acquired: 09 April 2016
Telescope: Orion 120mm EON Apochromatic Refractor
Camera: QSI Model 583 with TeleVue 2X PowerMate

 

   Exposure Time (min) 
   Number of Exposures
   RGB
   15
   
   -
   
   -
   OIII
   -
   RGB
   6
   
   0
   
   0
   OIII
   0

 

Processing:
Master red, green, and blue images created using SuperSIAM.
Color composite image created using Basic Processing Procedure III.
Color composite image contrast-stretched using Adobe Photoshop.




 

 

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