Alternate Names

NGC 5194/5195, Whirlpool Galaxy

Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Canes Venatici, beneath the Big Dipper

Finder Chart

Distance

27 million light-years

Mass

1 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter of 4 million miles (6 million km), about four times the diameter of the Sun.

Discovery Methods

• Detection of an accretion disk

This black-and-white picture from a telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, shows both galaxies that form M51. The smaller galaxy at top is also cataloged as NGC 5195, while the larger one is known as NGC 5194. They are connected by a “bridge” of stars pulled out of the two galaxies when they passed close to each other tens of millions of years ago. []

This document was last modified: October 24, 2005.