Galaxy · Canes Venatici

Galaxie du Tourbillon

A spiral galaxy seen face on, 31 million light-years away in Canes Venatici, discovered by Charles Messier in 1773.

In the catalogue, the thumbnail for this object is cropped in on its subject, so that it can be seen at card size. This view here is the whole photograph, as I produced it.

Its companion NGC 5195 has been pulling on one of its arms for hundreds of millions of years. That tide is setting off the birth of new stars there. Its two arms are bright and come out fairly quickly. What takes hours are their faintest extensions, and the halo that surrounds the two galaxies.

Source: NASA, catalogue Messier de Hubble, Messier 51. A figure wrong? Report it.

1h 03m 1 shot

0 towards 22h 12m · cumulative integration on this object

Temps d'intégration : the total exposure time, the sum of every exposure stacked on an object.