M51 is two galaxies colliding together
at a distance of 23 +/- 4 million light-years away from our own Milky
Way Galaxy, and a radius of 43,000 light years. This galaxy although
it lies close to the constellation of Ursa Major, it's actually
within the constellation boarder of Canes Venatici. These are easily
spotted in the average amateur astronomers backyard telescopes, and
may even be visible through a pair of binoculars.
'X' marks the spot where M51 is located. Screen shot from astronomy freeware Stellarium.
M51 through my telescope with plenty of
light pollution in the skies looks like a hazy circle with a bright
central core... actually, two bright central cores. One from each
galaxy as they're colliding together. M51 shines at a magnitude of
8.4 so it's quite easily visible from light polluted skies and will
probably show even more detail through an eyepiece from a dark sky
location. Previously I had drawn a sketch of M51 through the eyepiece. Amazing the difference between what you can
see, and what your camera can capture with multiple long exposures
stacked.
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy taken on March 26, 2012.
This image is 16 images at 30 seconds a
piece, 10 dark frames, and 20 bias frames stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
and processed in Gimp. Photos taken on March 26, 2012 with an Omni
XLT 150 and Canon 350D prime focus.
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