The Whirlpool Galaxy + Stars Over Bucks + LRGB

The Whirlpool Galaxy

Credit: Stars Over Bucks

Filters: Optolong LRGB filters

 

 

The Whirlpool Galaxy! Messier 51 and the smaller galaxy its interacting with NGC 5195. The two galaxies are 27 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Whirlpool Galaxy measures 76,000 light years in diameter and has the mass of 180 billion suns! Even with that this galaxy is less than half the size of our own Milky Way and ten times lighter. The two galaxies are interacting with each other and you can see extensions of the galaxy surrounding it. What’s really cool is you can actually see some of the nebulas in the galaxies arms as the bright red areas, similar to the nebulas in our own galaxy I often post. This was a wide angle shot and the second photo shows many of the surrounding smaller and distant galaxies. In fact, there are more than 40 galaxies in the photo, many looking like stars because they are so far away. The third photo labels all these distant galaxies.
Telescope: William Optics Pleiades 111 f/4.8

 

 

 

 

 

Camera: Zwo ASI 6200MM Pro
Exposure: 20 x 6min RGB, 250 x 6min L
Mount: Zwo AM5
Guiding: ASI290mini, 30mm scope
Filter: Optolong LRGB fiters
Software: NINA, DSS, Pixinsight

Hope you like it.