M51 Whirlpool Galaxy M51 is around 31 million light years from earth and around 76,000 light years across making it smaller than our Milky Way galaxy. Like many galaxies there is a black hole in the centre. The smaller interacting galaxy is NGC5195 and it is thought this may have actually passed through the centre of M51 around 500 million years ago. M51 currently appears to be “sucking” matter out of NGC5195. M51 is actively forming new stars whilst old ones are dying - three supernova (exploding stars) have been seen here by astronomers since 1994. There are numerous small galaxies in the image and many of them can be seen on a good screen, the two main galaxies hold around 100 billion (100,000,000,000) stars. Actual Size : 76,000 Light Years Sky Size : 11.2' x 6.9' Distance : 31 million Light Years
Target : M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
Date : 2024-04-03
Scope : CFF 135/926
Mount : EQ6R-Pro (DFO StellarDrive)
Camera : QHY600 Lite
Filters : Chroma
• Red : 43 x 300s
• Green : 41 x 300s
• Blue : 49 x 300s
Total Integration : 11.1 hours
Data capture during March 2022 and March 2024.
Target : M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
Date : 2022-04-26
Scope : CFF 135/926
Mount : EQ6R-Pro (DFO StellarDrive)
Camera : QHY600 Lite
Filters : Chroma
• Red : 29 x 300s
• Green : 30 x 300s
• Blue : 30 x 300s
Total Integration : 7.4 hours
Data capture during 25th and 26th March.
Target : M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy Date : 2018-05-06 Scope : SW Esprit 80/400 Mount : HEQ5 Camera : SX814 Filters : Baader • Red : 7 x 300s • Green : 7 x 300s • Blue : 7 x 300s Total Integration : 1.75 hours My first attempt at M51 with a cooled astrophotography camera.
Target : M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy Date : 2015-05-08 Scope : SW Esprit 80/400 Mount : HEQ5 Camera : Nikon D750 Filters : None • OSC : 7 x 120s Total Integration : 0.23 hours My first attempt at M51 and one of my earliest attempts at astrophotography