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Credit: Jon Christensen
Explanation:
Follow the handle of
the
Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until
you get to the handle's last bright star.
Then, just slide your telescope a little
south and west and
you might find this
stunning pair of interacting galaxies,
the 51st entry
in Charles
Messier's famous
catalog.
Perhaps the original
spiral nebula, the large galaxy with
well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as
NGC 5194a.
Its spiral arms and dust lanes
clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left),
NGC 5195.
The pair are
about 31 million light-years distant and
officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation
Canes Venatici.
Though M51
looks faint and fuzzy to the human eye,
the above long-exposure, deep-field image taken last month shows much of the
faint complexity that actually surrounds the smaller galaxy.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 51 - Whirlpool galaxy
Publications with words: M 51 - Whirlpool galaxy
See also: