outerspace photo

M51 through 127mm/952mm FL telescope for 9:55 of total exposure from 8600’ in CO. Located an estimated 23 - 36 million light years from Earth, M51 is approximately 30,000 light years across and home to an estimated 100 billion stars. It’s an interesting target due to its interaction with a dwarf elliptical galaxy, which it appears to be cannibalizing, but with the use of the Hubble astronomers have determined that the dwarf galaxy is actually behind M51. There is still interaction, though, and the dwarf galaxy’s gravitational forces have created areas of great star formation in M51.