M51 WHIRLPOOL GALAXY

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.