H-NGC5195 — Whirlpool's Companion
Galaxy in Canes Venatici
About
A small galaxy in Canes Venatici, also called M51b, locked in an encounter with the Whirlpool Galaxy, roughly 23 to 31 million light-years away depending on the method. Dust from a bridge between the pair is silhouetted against its centre, which places it behind M51. It is in the Herschel 400.
Imaging tips
- About 6′ × 5′, so on its own it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- Framing M51 at 2200–3670 mm on APS-C also catches this galaxy, only about 4.4′ away (approximate), in the same field.
- The tidal stream around the pair is faint: one team's 255-hour version of M51 included 68 h 57 min of luminance, which brought out even its faintest parts.
- Best from March to May; it passes almost overhead, peaking near 87° from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 6′ × 5′
- Magnitude
- 9.6
- Coordinates
- RA 13h 30.0m, Dec +47° 16′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr, May
- Peak altitude
- 87° from 50°N, 78° from 35°N
Nearby
- M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) · 4.4′ away