Section of M51 with progenitor star

Esahubble_opo0521b_1024

esahubble_opo0521b July 28th, 2005

Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Li and A. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley), S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

This ESO/NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture shows M 51, an interacting spiral galaxy, which is also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. It is located about 25 Million light years away from Earth, but can still easily observed with a small telescope by amateur astronomers. M 51 is also a popular object among professional astronomers as it shows an ongoing enhanced star formation rate, which is probably caused by the interaction with its companion galaxy (not visible on the picture). The galaxy was also the location of two supernovae within the last couple of years: The first one appeared in 2005, the second one in 2011.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0521b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
IRAS 13277+4727 M 51 Messier 51 NGC 5194 Whirlpool Galaxy
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_opo0521b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 29m 54.0s
DEC = 47° 11’ 12.8”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
1.5 x 1.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Canes Venatici

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Hubble (ACS) Optical ((H-alpha+NII)) 658.0 nm
Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Esahubble_opo0521b_1280
×
ID
opo0521b
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
IRAS 13277+4727, M 51, Messier 51, NGC 5194, Whirlpool Galaxy
Credits
NASA, ESA, W. Li and A. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley), S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date
2005-07-28T20:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0521b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, (H-alpha+NII), V, B
Central Wavelength
814, 658, 555, 435
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
202.474959183, 47.1869022599
Reference Dimension
1800.0, 1800.0
Reference Pixel
900.0, 900.0
Scale
-1.38705233342e-05, 1.38705233342e-05
Rotation
-0.039999999999999994
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0521b
Metadata Date
2005-07-21T13:17:45-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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