Stephan Hamel
Celestial Tango
A celestial tango with the Whirlpool Galaxy M51
(Increase the brightness of your screen to see it all!)
One of the most beautiful galaxy visible in the spring. It is actually 2 galaxies fighting it off or doing a celestial tango.
M51 was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy and is about 23 million light-years from the Milky Way.
Although it was discovered in 1773 by Messier, it is not until 1929 that it was identified as a galaxy in it's own right by Hubble.
The very pronounced spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy is believed to be the result of the close interaction between it and its companion galaxy NGC 5195. NGC 5195 is believed to have passed through the main disk of M51 about 500 to 600 million years ago. In the process, billions of stars have been catapulted out into space and are probably slowly getting back into the "new" galaxy being pulled back in by gravity. NGC 5195 (the small galaxy) will probably come back for another pass through in 100's of million of years. Fascinating, isn't it?
This spectacle was imaged from my balcony :-)
The sky cleared late in the evening and i rushed to install my equipment. Needless to say I went to bed late (or early) this morning.
Tech stuff: SCT 8inch, ZWO 1600MM and LRGB imaging. 2 minutes subs for as long as I could go without falling asleep at the wheel :-)
Celestial Tango
A celestial tango with the Whirlpool Galaxy M51
(Increase the brightness of your screen to see it all!)
One of the most beautiful galaxy visible in the spring. It is actually 2 galaxies fighting it off or doing a celestial tango.
M51 was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy and is about 23 million light-years from the Milky Way.
Although it was discovered in 1773 by Messier, it is not until 1929 that it was identified as a galaxy in it's own right by Hubble.
The very pronounced spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy is believed to be the result of the close interaction between it and its companion galaxy NGC 5195. NGC 5195 is believed to have passed through the main disk of M51 about 500 to 600 million years ago. In the process, billions of stars have been catapulted out into space and are probably slowly getting back into the "new" galaxy being pulled back in by gravity. NGC 5195 (the small galaxy) will probably come back for another pass through in 100's of million of years. Fascinating, isn't it?
This spectacle was imaged from my balcony :-)
The sky cleared late in the evening and i rushed to install my equipment. Needless to say I went to bed late (or early) this morning.
Tech stuff: SCT 8inch, ZWO 1600MM and LRGB imaging. 2 minutes subs for as long as I could go without falling asleep at the wheel :-)