M51 WHIRLPOOL GALAXY

Jack Schmidling Productions, Inc.
18016 Church Road ~ Marengo IL 60152
Phone:815 923 0031 ~ Email:
arf@mc.net


PHOTO INDEX RECENT PHOTOS ASTRONOMY PAGE HOME PAGE



M51
in
Canes Venatici





M51 Whirlpool Galaxy


The unfamiliar constellation Canes Venatici, (the Hunting Dog) is just a few dim stars, beneath the Big Dipper.

M51 is a giant spiral galaxy not too different from our own Milky Way in both size and number of stars. It lies at a distance of about 15 million light years.

The companion galaxy (NGC 5195), although appearing to be connected to M51, is actually farther away as determined by its somewhat greater red shift and radial velocity. Although not obvious in some photos, this one seems to show the spiral arm and dust lane of M51 passing in front of NGC5195.



This image was a stack of 3 X 10 min exposures with the MX716 camera through the 16" telescope. Color was obtained using single 10 min exposures through RGB filters and then combined with the monochrome image.






This image is a stack of 4 X 20 min exposures with the MX716 camera through the 10" telescope.





For the most recent Astrophotos of the Week... RECENT PHOTOS


All film photos taken with the...JSP ASTROCAMERA



Astro Photo Index

Return to top of page

ASTRONOMY PAGE

HOME PAGE