Astronomy Picture of the Day 7-10-02

NASA ^ | 7-10-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2002 July 10

M51: Cosmic Whirlpool
Credit & Copyright: Tony and Daphne Hallas

Explanation: Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you'll likely find 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 (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 37 million light-years distant and officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. While M51 is visible as a faint, fuzzy patch in binoculars, this sharp color picture was made with a 14 inch telescope and combines digital camera exposures totaling 3 hours and 42 minutes.

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

Galaxy is from the Greek galactos, meaning milk. Thus our own galaxy's common name "Milky Way".

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[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[2Trievers]

To say say that incredible picture leaves me speechless in an understatement.

Reminds me of my favorite cephalopod, the Chambered Nautilus. Nature's wonders ... ahhhhhhhh. &;-)

[aomagrat]

Stunning, absolutely stunning!

[Jemian]

I was gonna say that.

[BossyRoofer]

This is a nice way to start the morning! Good Work.

[leadpenny]

Some would say I am easily amazed but I would have guessed Hubble and not a couple in their backyard had photographed this. For those who have not already done it, I suggest going to Tony and Daphne Hallas' Gallery link.

[MeekOneGOP]

Three hours and 42 minutes exposure. Wow. Nice pic, thanks!

[Sock]

Beautiful!

Please add me to your ping list.
Thanks

[Sock]

I read a book years ago which dealt with Fibonacci numbers and patterns in nature. I don't remember if his equations apply to the pattern in galaxies, in particular spiral galaxies?

Fibonacci

[wafflehouse]

very cool picture!