M 51, The Whirlpool Galaxy

One of my favorite galaxies (yes I say this about many of them) is the Whirlpool Galaxy, or M51. It has a little partner galaxy NGC 5195.

M51 is a spiral galaxy that is about 31 million light years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici. It’s a fantastic object to look at in the night sky because it faces us straight on so we can really see the spiral’s arms. These arms are important site of stellar production, where hydrogen gas is compressed to become new stars. M51 was discovered in 1753 by Charles Messier, and it makes a great target for a small telescope at this time of year.

You might notice a light blob to the left of M51 in this photo. That is another galaxy, NGC 5195. NGC 5195 has been moving past M51 for hundreds of millions of years, and the two galaxies have been interacting with each other, sharing dust and other matter. One reason M51 has such a strong spiral structure is because of this interaction. The two galaxies are considered to be a fantastic example of galaxies influencing one another.

I took the photo with my Seestar S30 and did minimal processing just to remove light pollution artifacts.