eduastro
Yet another image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
This is one of the most photographed galaxies, so I'm just adding my own image of this beautiful spiral galaxy to the mix. I captured this image with my William Optics FLT132 w/ FLAT8 0.72x reducer, so this image is a crop of the original wider field image.
Integration time was 4 hours over two nights, using a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro with Antlia Triband RGB Ultra 2" filter.
More information and wide field image in Astrobin: astrob.in/ez9s8t/C/
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Information about M51:
"Discovered by Charles Messier in 1773, M51 is located 31 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Whirlpool's most striking feature is its two curving arms, a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. These arms serve an important purpose in spiral galaxies. They are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars.
Some astronomers believe that the Whirlpool's arms are so prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the Whirlpool's arms. At first glance, the compact galaxy appears to be tugging on the arm. However, a very detailed image taken by the Hubble telescope shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind the Whirlpool. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years. See NASA's website for more information: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
"
Yet another image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
This is one of the most photographed galaxies, so I'm just adding my own image of this beautiful spiral galaxy to the mix. I captured this image with my William Optics FLT132 w/ FLAT8 0.72x reducer, so this image is a crop of the original wider field image.
Integration time was 4 hours over two nights, using a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro with Antlia Triband RGB Ultra 2" filter.
More information and wide field image in Astrobin: astrob.in/ez9s8t/C/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Information about M51:
"Discovered by Charles Messier in 1773, M51 is located 31 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Whirlpool's most striking feature is its two curving arms, a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. These arms serve an important purpose in spiral galaxies. They are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars.
Some astronomers believe that the Whirlpool's arms are so prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the Whirlpool's arms. At first glance, the compact galaxy appears to be tugging on the arm. However, a very detailed image taken by the Hubble telescope shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind the Whirlpool. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years. See NASA's website for more information: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
"