              APOD: 2017 October 19 - M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2017 October 19
                                      [2]
                          M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
  Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn [4] (Weather and Sky
                              Photography [5] )

Explanation: Find the Big Dipper [6]  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 [7]  this stunning pair
of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry [8] in Charles Messier's famous
catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula [9] , the large galaxy with well
defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and
dust lanes [10] clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (bottom), NGC
5195 [11] . The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially
lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici
[12] . Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye, deep images like this one
[13]  can reveal striking colors and the faint tidal debris [14]  around the
smaller galaxy

                  Tomorrow's picture: moon over trifid [15]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1710/M51_KerryLeckyHepburn_1600.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] https://www.facebook.com/weatherandsky
  [5] http://www.weatherandsky.com/
  [6] ap110624.html
  [7] http://www.universetoday.com/35997/messier-51/
  [8] http://messier.obspm.fr/m/m051.html
  [9] http://messier.seds.org/more/m051_rosse.html
  [10] http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2005/12/ image/a/
  [11] ap130831.html
  [12] http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cvn/index.html
  [13] http://www.weatherandsky.com/all_astrophotography/ h899679c2#h899679c2
  [14] http://burro.cwru.edu/JavaLab/GalCrashWeb/backgrnd.html
  [15] ap171020.html
  [16] ap171018.html
  [17] archivepix.html
  [18] lib/apsubmit2015.html
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  [26] ap171020.html
  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [29] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
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