Observation by Peter Hannah: M51

Uploaded by

Peter Hannah

Observer

Peter Hannah

Observed

2021 Mar 14 - 00:00

Uploaded

2021 May 21 - 11:44

Objects

Messier 51B (NGC5195)
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Planetarium overlay

Enable overlay
Show stars
Label stars
Show deep sky objects
Label deep sky objects
Show constellation boundaries
Show constellation sticks
Show constellation labels
Show RA/Dec grid

Constellation

Canes Venatici

Field centre

RA: 13^h29^m
Dec: +47°12'
Position angle: -39°03'

Field size

0°24' × 0°18'

Equipment

Planewave CDK-14 corrected Dall-Kirkham reflector on 10Micron GM2000 mount
FLI Proline P9000 CCD camera
Astrodon LRGB and H-α (3nm) filters

Location

IC Astronomy hosted site, Oria, Spain

Target name

M51

Title

M51

About this image

M51 is the name for the galaxy pair comprising the face-on spiral galaxy NGC5194 and its smaller companion, NGC5195, in Canes Venatici.

Although popular target for astrophotographers, the observer was aiming to capture the H-II regions in the spiral arms, and the tidal tails resulting from interactions between the two galaxies.

North is to the upper left corner of this image.

H-II regions are clouds of ionized hydrogen, their electrons having been removed by the ultra-violet radiation from hot young blue stars. The red glow results from the recapture of an electron by the hydrogen nucleus (that is, a proton), and the consequent emission of a photon. The energy of the photon corresponds to the second-innermost energy level in the atom at a wavelength of 656.3 nm – the so-called Hydrogen-alpha spectral line in the Balmer series.

Faint tidal tails can also be seen where gas and dust have been pulled from the two galaxies.

To the left of NGC5195 is a very small and faint galaxy, IC4277. Its magnitude is 15.69 and while no distance information was found in the literature, it is estimated to be around 300 million light years away.

Files associated with this observation

M51_LRGBHa_crop.jpg (1.9 MB)

Like this image

Nik Szymanek, Martina McGovern, Jeremy Shears, Simon Paul Davis, Graham Winstanley, Manolo_Rodriguez, Nick Hewitt

Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.