Whirlpool Galaxy

Spiral galaxy, M51

From the Sun

28 million light-years

Picture: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/George Hatfield and Flynn Haase

What it is

A face-on spiral pulling on its small companion, NGC 5195. The first galaxy whose spiral shape was seen, by Lord Rosse in 1845.

The picture hangs at that distance facing Earth, as large as it is on the sky; how deep the object is cannot be seen, so it is flat.

The picture

Taken by: NOIRLab
Picture spans: about 130,000 ly
From the Sun: 28 million light-years
RA / Dec: 202.54° / 47.32°
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/George Hatfield and Flynn Haase

Whirlpool Galaxy

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 31 million light-years away and 23.58 kiloparsecs (76,900 ly) in diameter.

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