M51：漩涡星系
(原标题: M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy)
2021-09-02
浏览次数: 32
找到北斗七星，跟着把手离开北斗七星的碗，直到你到达最后一颗明亮的星星。然后，只要把你的望远镜向南和向西移动一点，你就会看到这对令人惊叹的相互作用的星系，这是查尔斯·梅西耶著名星表中的第51个条目。也许是最初的螺旋星云，这个具有清晰螺旋结构的大星系也被编目为NGC 5194。它的旋臂和尘埃带清晰地扫过它的伴星星系NGC 5195（上）。这对恒星距离我们约3100万光年，位于小星座天琴座的角边界内。虽然M51看起来暗淡而模糊，但像这张这样的深度图像显示了它引人注目的颜色和银河潮汐碎片。
查看原文解释
Find the Big Dipper 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 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 (top), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye, deep images like this one reveal its striking colors and galactic tidal debris.
© Josep Drudis