M51 - A pair of interacting galaxies (Monty Chandler)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4277 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - A pair of interacting galaxies

Link: https://montychandler.smugmug.com/Astrophotography/The-Heavans/i-Z5C3MhG/A

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M51 - A pair of interacting galaxies

Link: https://montychandler.smugmug.com/Astrophotography/The-Heavans/i-Z5C3MhG/A

M51, also known as Messier 51a or NGC 5194, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It's located 31 million light-years from Earth. M51's arms are made of long lanes of stars, dust, and gas, and appear like a staircase. Sometimes the designation M51 is used to refer to the pair of galaxies, in which case the individual galaxies may be referred to as M51a (NGC 5194) and M51b (NGC 5195).

The Whirlpool Galaxy has two, very prominent spiral arms that wind clockwise. One arm deviates from a constant angle significantly. The pronounced spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy is believed to be the result of the close interaction between it and its companion galaxy NGC 5195.

As a result of the Whirpool Galaxy's interaction with NGC 5195, a variety of tidal features have been created. The largest of these features is the so-called Northwest plume, which extends out to 43 kiloparsecs (140,000 light-years) from the galaxy's center. This plume is uniform in color and likely originated from the Whirpool Galaxy itself due to having diffuse gas. Adjacent to it are two other plumes that have a slightly bluer color, referred to as the Western plumes due to their location.

NGC 5195 (also known as Messier 51b or M51b) is a dwarf galaxy that is interacting with the Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as M51a or NGC 5194). Both galaxies are located approximately 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Together, the two galaxies are one of the most widely studied interacting galaxy pairs.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9232061
PixInsight job	YYV0H7236C398O93OJ95F9847PRHX2FQ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m54s.856
RA (top/left)	13h31m29s.126
RA (top/right)	13h31m26s.716
RA (bottom/right)	13h28m19s.840
RA (bottom/left)	13h28m24s.301

Dec (center)	+47°11′31″.90
Dec (top/left)	+46°47′32″.60
Dec (top/right)	+47°35′52″.41
Dec (bottom/right)	+47°35′26″.68
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°47′06″.50

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M51 - A pair of interacting galaxies

M51 - A pair of interacting galaxies

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