M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

Last Thursday (the 23rd April 2026) the continuing good weather meant that I could observe another classic spiral galaxy, M51 The Whirlpool. Like the Whale and the Hockey Stick and M63 this object is also found in Canes Venatici and is located not far from the end of the tail of the bear, Ursa Major. I observed this object three years ago at about this time of year and also back in 2016. Here is what I obtained after 357x15s (1 hour 29.25 minutes):-

All I can say is wow, what a difference! The first frame was at 22:36 BST and the last at 00:35 on the 24th. The Astro filter was employed and the gain was 60. The image was processed in Stellar Studio using auto settings. The saturation was increased in Photoshop and the image binned x2. Here is a more close up version using the unbinned image:-

The full impact of this impressive galaxy can be seen in detail. M51 consists of two galaxies that are gravitationally interacting. The larger NGC 5194 is the one designated as M51; the smaller one to the left that is literally being pulled apart is NGC 5195. This is very clear in this deeper image where you can see streams of stars and dust that are being thrown into space (see the reddish light above and below NGC 5195). The spewed matter is probably coming from the spiral arms of both galaxies.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026