M51: The Whirlpool
Galaxy
From NASA’s Astronomy
Picture of the Day
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 famous catalog.
Perhaps the original spiral nebula,
the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC
5194. Its spiral
arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy
(right), 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 eye, deep images like this one can
reveal striking colors and the faint tidal debris around
the smaller galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh