Browse All : Aura of M51

Name	Multipanel Images of Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Name	Hubble Optical Image of Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Name	Whirlpool Galaxy (M51): A Classic Beauty
Category	Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
Release Date	December 10, 2007

Name	Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) Animations

Name	Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) HST Image

Name	Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) NOAO Image

Hubble Reveals the Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy

Title	Hubble Reveals the Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Happy Sweet Sixteen, Hubble Telescope!

Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Title	Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images
General Information	What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]

Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova

Title	Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova

Title	Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova

Title	Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova

Title	Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova

Title	M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
Explanation	The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy. At only 23 million light years [ http://www.pa.msu.edu/~sciencet/ask_st/012292.html ] distant and fully 65 thousand light years across, M51 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m051.html ], also known as NGC [ http://www.seds.org/billa/ngc.html ] 5194, is one of the brightest and most picturesque galaxies [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_m2.html ] on the sky. The smaller galaxy appearing here below and to the left is well behind M [ http://www.seds.org/messier/Messier.html ]51, as can be inferred by the dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980116.html ] in a foreground spiral arm blocking light from this smaller galaxy. The Whirlpool, pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0063.html ], is visible with binoculars in the constellation [ http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/asp/constellation.faq.html ] of Canes Venaciti [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Canes_Venatici.html ]. M51 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000527.html ] is a spiral galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/spiral_galaxies.html ] of type Sc [ http://www.astr.ua.edu/preprints/white/gal_tuningfrk.html ] and is the dominant member of a whole group [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051gr.html ] of galaxies. Astronomers speculate that M51's spiral structure [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980314.html ] is primarily due to its gravitational interaction [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971022.html ] with this smaller galaxy.

Title	M51: Cosmic Whirlpool
Explanation	Follow the handle of the Big Dipper [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BIGDIP.HTM ] away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050218.html ] the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might [ http://www.astronomyforum.net/ forum.html?db=&topic_number=253&lastpost=2005-04-0516:54:50 ] find this stunning pair [ http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m51.html ] of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m051.html ] in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_rosse.html ], 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 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n5195.html ]. The pair are [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051gr.html ] about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici [ http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/ canesvenatici/ ]. Though M51 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_snhst.html ] looks faint and fuzzy in small, earthbound telescopes, this sharpest ever picture [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/image/a ] of M51 was made in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys [ http://hubblesite.org/sci.d.tech/nuts_.and._bolts/ instruments/acs/ ] on board the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/ ].

Title	M51: Cosmic Whirlpool
Explanation	Follow the handle of the Big Dipper [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BIGDIP.HTM ] away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050218.html ] the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find [ http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/constellations/ canesvenatici.html ] this stunning pair [ http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m51.html ] of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m051.html ] in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030925.html ], 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 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n5195.html ]. The pair are [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051gr.html ] about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici [ http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/ canesvenatici/ ]. Though M51 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_snhst.html ] looks faint and fuzzy in small, earthbound telescopes, this sharpest ever picture [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/image/a ] of M51 was made in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys [ http://hubblesite.org/sci.d.tech/nuts_.and._bolts/ instruments/acs/ ] on board the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/ ].

Title	NGC 1531/2: Interacting Galaxies
Explanation	This dramatic image of an interacting pair of galaxies [ http://www.astr.ua.edu/pairs2.html ] was made using 8-meter Gemini [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030909.html ] South telescope [ http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=2 ] at Cerro Pachon [ http://nightskylive.net/cp/ ], Chile [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ci.html ]. NGC 1531 is the background galaxy with a bright core just above center and NGC 1532 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980710.html ] is the foreground spiral galaxy [ http://www.seds.org/messier/spir.html ] laced with dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] lanes. The pair [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0983.html ] is about 55 million light-years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] away in the southern constellation Eridanus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Eridanus.html ]. These galaxies lie close enough together so that each feels the influence [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001102.html ] of the other's gravity [ http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/dept/phys-sci/gravity/history/history.htm ]. The gravitational tug-of-war [ http://www.army.mod.uk/sportandadventure/clubs/tug_of_war/history.htm ] has triggered star formation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040414.html ] in the foreground spiral as evidenced by the young, bright blue star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050103.html ] along the upper edge of the front spiral arm [ http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q2233.html ]. Though the spiral galaxy in this pair [ http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=119 ] is viewed nearly edge-on, astronomers believe the system is similar to the face-on spiral and companion known as M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020710.html ].

Title	M51: Cosmic Whirlpool
Explanation	Follow the handle of the Big Dipper [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BIGDIP.HTM ] away from the dipper's [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ constellations/Ursa_Major.html ] bowl, until you get to [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050218.html ] the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might [ http://www.astronomyforum.net/ forum.html?db=&topic_number=253&lastpost=2005-04-0516:54:50 ] find this stunning pair [ http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m51.html ] of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m051.html ] in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_rosse.html ], 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 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n5195.html ]. The pair are [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051gr.html ] about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici [ http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/ canesvenatici/ ]. Though M51 [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m051_snhst.html ] looks faint and fuzzy in small, earthbound telescopes, this sharpest ever picture [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/image/a ] of M51 was made in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys [ http://hubblesite.org/sci.d.tech/nuts_.and._bolts/ instruments/acs/ ] on board the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/ releases/2005/12/ ].

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Browse All : Aura of M51