Archive 2020 · Galaxies Collide - M51

Colorado CJ
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Galaxies Collide - M51

Finally had a clear night last night (for a little while anyway), so I shot M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

These are actually a pair of interacting galaxies, which are literally tearing each other apart. Located 37,000,000 light years from Earth, this galaxy is one of my favorites to photograph.

The first photo is uncropped, where you can see many other distant galaxies in the vicinity of M51. The second photo is a cropped, or "zoomed" in version.

Total imaging time for this image was just under 2 hours.

140, 20 second Luminance images
135, 30 second RGB images

Not too bad for a light polluted suburban backyard

M51 1.9 hrs small by Colo CJ, on Flickr

M51 1.9 Hrs Crop by Colo CJ, on Flickr

Mar 26, 2020 at 11:16 AM

KCollett
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Galaxies Collide - M51

Always great to see your amazing work. Thank you!

Mar 26, 2020 at 11:33 AM

Leica28
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Galaxies Collide - M51

Just amazing. Great work

Mar 26, 2020 at 01:19 PM

01Ryan10
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Galaxies Collide - M51

Awesome work! It boggles my mind that not a single star is likely to collide with each other when galaxies "collide". The distances between stars are just unfathomable to comprehend. Sure, we can say light years this and light years that, but we still cannot relate to the scan and distance.

I've heard that if our Sun is the size of a grain of sand then ~5 miles is roughly 1 light year. That's some crazy vastness.

Mar 26, 2020 at 02:39 PM