M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

The whirlpool galaxy is actually two galaxies interacting with each other. The quite obvious spiral galaxy that is M51 and the much smaller galaxy catalogued as NGC 5195.

First discovered by Charles Messier in 1773, M51 is located 31 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.

Data gathered at www.astronomycentre.org.uk/ on the 18/03/2025.

 

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Skywatcher Quattro 8"

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong UV/IR.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+ using Altair Starwave 50mm & ZWO 120mm mini.

248 light frames 60 seconds each.

Stacked with darks using WBPP in PixInsight.

Processed using Graxpert, StarNet2, PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

Done