What Is The Whirlpool Galaxy | About The Spiral Galaxy
WHIRLPOOL GALAXY – In this topic, we are going to talk about a spiral galaxy known as the Whirlpool Galaxy or Messier 51.
As mentioned above, also known as Messier 51, M51, and NGC 5194, it is a majestic spiral galaxy with winding arms that appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space.
According to NASA, these arms are long long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. The arms are known to be a hallmark of the “grand-design spiral galaxies”. In this galaxy, they play a vital role in being factories in forming stars. To do so, these arms compress hydrogen gas, creating clusters of new stars.
Certain astronomers think that its arms are also prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, which is the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the arms that it seems to be tugging the latter.
A clear view from the Hubble telescope shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind Messier 51, gliding past it for hundreds of millions of years.
The galaxy was Discovered by Charles Messier in 1773. M51 is found 31 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and can be spotted with a small telescope especially during May.
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