Whirlpool Galaxy: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 19:31, 3 September 2005

The Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as Spiral Galaxy M51, Messier Object 51, Messier 51, M51, or NGC 5194) is a classic spiral galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier on October 13, 1773.

General information

The Whirpool Galaxy is one of the brightest, most compelling galaxies in the sky, visible with binoculars. The spiral galactic structure was first observed in this galaxy, which is the dominant member of the M51 group of galaxies.

Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. Sometimes M51 is used to refer to the pair of galaxies, in which case the individual galaxies may be referred to as M51A (5194) and M51B (5195).

v t e Galaxies
Morphology	Disc Lenticular barred unbarred Spiral anemic barred flocculent grand design intermediate Magellanic unbarred Dwarf galaxy elliptical irregular spheroidal spiral Elliptical galaxy cD Irregular barred Peculiar Ring Polar
Structure	Active galactic nucleus Bar Bulge Central massive object Galactic Center Dark matter halo Disc Disc galaxy Halo corona Galactic plane Galactic ridge Interstellar medium Protogalaxy Galaxy filament Spiral arm Supermassive black hole Ultramassive
Active nuclei	Blazar LINER Markarian Quasar BL Lacertae object Radio X-shaped DRAGN Relativistic jet Seyfert
Energetic galaxies	Lyman-alpha emitter Lyman-break Luminous infrared ULIRG HLIRG ELIRG Starburst blue compact dwarf pea faint blue Luminous infrared galaxy Hot dust-obscured Green bean galaxy Hanny's Voorwerp Wolf-Rayet galaxy
Low activity	Low surface brightness Ultra diffuse Dark galaxy Red nugget Blue Nugget Dead disk
Interaction	Field Galactic tide Groups and clusters group cluster Brightest cluster galaxy fossil group Interacting merger collision cannibalism Jellyfish Satellite Stellar stream Superclusters Walls Voids and supervoids void galaxy
Lists	Galaxies Galaxies named after people Largest Nearest Polar-ring Ring Spiral Groups and clusters Large quasar groups Quasars List of the most distant astronomical objects Starburst galaxies Superclusters Voids
See also	Extragalactic astronomy Galactic astronomy Galactic coordinate system Galactic habitable zone Galactic magnetic fields Galactic orientation Galactic quadrant Galaxy color–magnitude diagram Galaxy formation and evolution Galaxy rotation curve Gravitational lens Gravitational microlensing Illustris project Intergalactic dust Intergalactic stars Intergalactic travel Population III stars Galaxy X (galaxy)
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The galaxy is less than 37 million light years away from Earth — some measurements put the distance at only 15 million.

In 2005 a supernova was observed in the Whirlpool Galaxy, peaking at apparent magnitude 14.

External links

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