Posted on 05/02/2015 4:37:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (right), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye, deep images like this one can reveal striking colors and the faint tidal debris around the smaller galaxy.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Martin Pugh]
And coming next week, the Maytag and Frigidaire Galaxies.
and Sunbeam. ;’)
Thanks for your “Astronomy Picture of the Day “ posts.
I’ve been checking them out for years.
NGC 5195 looks a lot like the inside of my eyeball, which I got to
see at the optometrist’s a couple of days ago.
EW!!!
Uh... Thanks for the post and ping, um... I think. ;-)
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