M 51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy

Description:

M 51, the Whirlpool galaxy. One of the galaxies amateur astronomers love to photograph because it is relatively bright, large, colorful, and almost always visible near the tail of the Big Dipper. She’s 27 million light-years away

We can see another galaxy (NGC 5195 at the bottom) which is in interaction with M 51. According to the scenario under study, NGC 5195 would have penetrated the disc of M 51 from the back towards us 500 million years ago. years and would have made another back crossing 50 to 100 million years ago to its present position slightly behind M 51.