The Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51)

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is actually a galaxy colliding with another, smaller galaxy called NGC 5195 and are roughly 23 million light years away. It is roughly 43% the size of the Milky Way coming in at around 76,000 light years across.

This image combines 5 (2 hrs for Luminance and 1 hr each for RGB) of my 7 hrs worth of captured data as I still need to work in the 2 hrs of Ha data I have.

To learn more check out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy

Bonus Capture:
If you look toward the lower left of the image you will see a blue “smudge” that is also another galaxy called IC 4263 which is about 123 million light years from Earth.