Whirlpool Galaxy
The first galaxy in which anyone made out spiral structure: Lord Rosse drew it in 1845 with his six-foot telescope, eighty years before it became clear that the spirals lie outside the Milky Way at all. A smaller galaxy beside it is being torn apart right now.
Where to look
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Data
- Type
- a galaxy
- Constellation
- Canes Venatici
- Magnitude
- 8.4
- Apparent size
- 11.0 ′
- Distance
- 23.0 million light years
- Right ascension
- 202.475 °
- Declination
- 47.200 °
- Designations
- M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195
- NGC description
- !!!, great spiral neb M51
An estimate. NGC 2000.0 carries no distances, and published measurements disagree by up to a third.
The Messier list and the NGC/IC designations come from NGC 2000.0 (Sinnott, 1988), CDS Strasbourg.
Nearby in the same constellation
| Designations | Type | Magnitude | Apparent size |
|---|---|---|---|
| M3 · M 3 | a globular cluster | 6.4 | 16.2′ |
| M94 · M 94 | a galaxy | 8.2 | 11.0′ |
| M106 · M 106 | a galaxy | 8.3 | 18.2′ |
| M63 · Sunflower Galaxy | a galaxy | 8.6 | 12.3′ |