The Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as Messier 51a, M51a, or NGC 5194) is an interacting spiral galaxy that is estimated to be 23 ± 4 million light-years from the Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is one of the most famous galaxies in the sky.  The galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars.  The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a popular target for professional astronomers, who study it to further understand galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions.  Recently, M51 has been home to two different supernovae in its spiral arms, in 2005 (see image below), and again most recently in 2011.  M51's bright circular disk as a diameter of approximately 43,000 light-years, and a mass of 160 billion Suns.

M51 is visible through binoculars under dark sky conditions and can be resolved in detail with modern amateur telescopes.  When seen through a 4 inch telescope, the basic outlines of M51 and its companion are visible. Under dark skies, and with a moderate eyepiece through a 6 inch telescope, M51's intrinsic spiral structure can be detected. With larger (>12 inch) instruments under dark sky conditions, the various spiral bands are apparent with HII regions visible, and M51 can be seen to be attached to M51B.

Image information courtesy of Wikipedia.

Image Details:

•  
  • Instrument: Vixen VMC260L Cassegrain OTA with Astro Physics CCDT67 Focal Reducer @ 2080mm telescope focal length (f/8)
  • Mount:  Rainbow Astro RST-300 Mount in EQ Mode R
  • Image Scale:  0.47 arc-seconds/pixel
  • Camera: ASI071MC Pro Color Cooled One-Shot Camera with Baader IR/Cutoff Filter in Starizona Filter Slider
  • Guide and Imaging Interface: ASI174MM guide camera and ZWO Large Format Off-Axis Guider, Intel NUC 11 Mini-PC scope server pc, NINA Imaging Software,  ZWO EAF Auto-Focuser.
  • Filters & Exposure Times:  RAW format 16-bit Light frames.  240 sub-frames x 3 minutes each, binned 1x1 for a total exposure time of 12 hours.
  • Processing software: PPixInsight, using a combination of the ChaoticNebula.com and Adam Block workflows.
  • Location: Little Rock, AR., El. 537ft
  • Date: Image Acquisition over a 2 week period in June, 2022

Earlier Images of M51 Below including Supernova Discovery

Image Details:

•  
  • Instrument: Celestron C11 OTA @ f/6.3  (1760mm)
  • Mount: Mountain Instruments MI-250 GoTo
  • Image Scale:  1.7 arc-seconds/pixel
  • Filters: None
  • Exposure: 6 x 5 minutes
  • Camera: SBIG ST-2000XCM Color One-Shot with AO-7
  • Software: Maxim DL/CCD, Adobe Photoshop, RC Astro Gradient X-Terminator, Neat Image Pro
  • Location: Little Rock, AR., El. 350ft
  • Date: July 3, 2005

Supernova 2005cs, in one of the spiral arms of M51, discovered  on June 27th, 2005, by Wolfgang Kloehr: (Image taken July 2nd, 2005, at 23:50 CDT)

Page Last Updated:  7/30/2022
wcv