Posted on Sep 2, 2021

APOD: 2021 September 2 - M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy." Lying some 31 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venaciti, M51 provides a full face-on view of what astronomers call a "grand design spiral galaxy." Also known as NGC 5194, M51 has been demonstrated through radio observations to be interacting with its smaller partner, NGC5195. Therefore, the two are often shown together as we see in this photo.

I can't blame you if you think this is a Hubble shot...but it isn't. It is a composite of three images captured over a total exposure time of 34 hours from a 24-inch telescope located in New Mexico. Here are the other technical stats from the astrophotographer's web site:

Dates acquired: March-April 2020
Camera: FLI PL16803 (4096x4096 pixels)
Guiding: Astrodon Monster MOAG off-axis guider
Filters: L (light pollution), Hα, and RGB
Processing: CCDStack and Photoshop 2020

APOD: 2021 September 2 - M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy

Posted from apod.nasa.gov

Posted in these groups: A391a453

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Sgt (Join to see)

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See the Whirlpool Galaxy Through the Eyes of NASA’s 'Great Observatories'

The Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and Chandra X-ray Observatory has been used to study the Whirpool Galaxy. Visible, Infrared and X-ray views of the th...

Good Thursday Afternoon Maj William W. 'Bill' Price and what a beautiful Galaxy this M51 is! The colors collected from the composite images are amazingly beautiful... One of the best captures I have seen in a long time... I found this to be a fascinating APOD and as such, I did find a wonderful short video of this galaxy with excellent text descriptions as well as beautiful background music... This is an excellent adjunct to an already wonderful APOD. I believe all of your APOD followers will enjoy this...
Kerry

Link: https://youtu.be/uenmtYueD1Q
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL

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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price good day my friend, what a interesting read and share. I have said UT many times before, and I will say it again, " nobody does it better from above". Thanks for the Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day M51. HAVE A BLESSED DAY!

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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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You too SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL.

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LTC Stephen F.

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Blood Sweat & Tears, Spinning wheel

Wow people dig up the most obscure things.....

Thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Thursday, September 2, 2021 entitled "M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy."

My first thought was of a whirling dervish , second of a space slinky expanding, and last a cyclone in space. :-)
The name Whirlpool Galaxy brings to wind whirl pools which are dangerous and Whirlpool spin cycle washing machines :-)

Image: M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy - Image Credit & Copyright - Josep Drudis

Explanation: Find the Big Dipper and follow the handle away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you'll come upon this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (top), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye, deep images like this one reveal its striking colors and galactic tidal debris.

Thank you my friend Sgt (Join to see) for mentioning me.

Blood Sweat & Tears, Spinning wheel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvL1XM9axM
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC (Join to see)MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D.PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Michael Terrell CPL Douglas Chrysler Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen GySgt Jack WallaceMSgt James Clark-RosaSGT Charlie LeeSMSgt Mark VenzeioCpl Vic Burk SFC Ralph E Kelley SGT Randell Rose A1C Riley Sanders Maj Marty Hogan

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