M 51 ( Messier 51 , Messier 51 , NGC 5194 , Whirlpool Galaxy ) is a galaxy in the constellation Hounds Dogs , which is 23 million light-years from Earth [2] . The diameter of the galaxy is about 100 thousand light years. Galaxy M 51 (also known as Arp 85 and VV 1) consists of a large spiral galaxy NGC 5194, at the end of one of the arms of which is the companion galaxy NGC 5195 .
Whirlpool | |
---|---|
Galaxy | |
Spiral Swirl Galaxy and its companion NGC 5195 . | |
Research history | |
Discoverer | Charles Messier |
opening date | October 13, 1773 |
Legend | M51 , NGC 5194/5195 , Arp 85 |
Observational data ( Epoch J2000.0 ) | |
Constellation | Hounds Dogs |
Right ascension | |
Declination | |
Visible magnitude m V | 8.4 |
Specifications | |
Type of | |
Enters into | |
Redshift | 0.001544 (10) (463 (3) km / s) |
Distance | 23 ± 4 million of sv. years (7.1 ± 1.2 Mpc ) [2] [3] |
Properties | Gravitationally interacts with the galaxy NGC 5195 . |
The galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier on October 13, 1773 .
Content
Characteristics
In the center of the galaxy there is a supermassive black hole , the dust ring around which was discovered in 1992 using the Hubble orbiting telescope [4] . The heated ionized gas moves around a black hole at a speed of more than 3 million kilometers per hour. Radio observations revealed two structures in the form of giant bubbles in the galactic nucleus. The brightness in the optical and radio bands exceeds the brightness of our Galaxy several times. This suggests that more powerful processes occur in the center of M 51 than in the core of the Milky Way. A high-speed jet located in the M 51 plane cuts through gas and dust across the disk of the galaxy. It also inflates a bubble of heated gas on both sides of the black hole.
In 2015, with the help of the Hubble and Spitzer orbiting telescopes in the galaxy, a candidate for Kiel stars [5] was discovered. The object is a large unstable star with a mass of more than 100 solar masses .
Three supernova bursts were registered in the galaxy: SN 1994I , SN 2005cs, and SN 2011dh [6] .
Observations
M 51 is not the brightest of the Messier 's galaxies, but very favorable for amateur observations from middle and northern latitudes. . This object is best observed in spring and summer when the Hounds Dogs are close to their zenith. The galaxy is located at the southern apex of an isosceles obtuse-angled triangle with a side of η of the Big Dipper - 24 Beagle Hounds . A convenient guide for her search is the star Benetnash in the handle of the Big Dipper. In the dark sky, a galaxy can be detected even with an ordinary 8 × 50 finder of an amateur telescope or with 7 × 35 binoculars.
The “whirlpool” is the only galaxy in which amateur telescope can see spiral branches in a good dark sky and in the middle of an aperture (200-250 mm) amateur telescope. One branch can be traced almost a full turn around the bright core. The other — less contrasting — can be traced to its entry into the NGC 5195 satellite. The core of M 51 is roughly equal in brightness to NGC 5195 . North-west of the nucleus between the spirals of the branches is visible the star of our Galaxy. With a good sky and a sufficient aperture, you can see how the continuation of the spiral gives a dark dust mark on the body of NGC 5195 .
Neighbors in the sky from Messier's catalog
- M 63 - (southward in the direction of 20 CVn) spiral galaxy "Sunflower", visible in half a turn;
- M 94 - (to the southwest, between α and β of the Hounds of Dogs) galaxy, also visible flat, but with less contrasting and poorly visible spirals;
- M 101 - (to the northeast, in Ursa Major) a huge galaxy with low brightness, whose branches break up into separate nodes;
- M 106 - (to the west) a bright spiral galaxy with a jumper visible half way around.
The sequence of observation in the Messier Marathon
... M 108 → M 97 → M 51 → M 109 → M 40 ...
See also
- List of Messier Objects
- New shared directory
- Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies
Notes
- ↑ Frommert H. Revised NGC Data for NGC 5194
- ↑ 1 2 Takáts, K .; Vinkó, J. Distance estimate and progenitor characteristics of SN 2005cs in M 51 (Eng.) // Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society : journal. - 2006. - Vol. 372 , no. 4 - P. 1735 . - DOI : 10.1111 / j.1365-2966.2006.10974.x . - . - arXiv : astro-ph / 0608430 .
- ↑ Distance Results for MESSIER 051 Unreferenced . NASA / IPAC Extragalactic Database . The date of circulation is September 5, 2011. Archived on February 13, 2012.
- ↑ NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Resolves a Dark "x" Across the Nucleus of M51 (Eng.) . NASA (June 8, 1992). The appeal date is June 10, 2016.
- ↑ NASA Telescopes Find 'Twins' of Superstar Eta Carinae (eng.) . NASA (June 1, 2016). The appeal date is June 10, 2016.
- ↑ AAVSO Special Notice 242.
Literature
- Levitan E. “Whirlpool” in the Hounds of Dogs // Science and Life . - 1981. - № 10 . - p . 148-151 . An excerpt from this article is given , for example, on the site of the Kirov Planetarium .
- Guillermo A. Blanc et al. The Spatially Resolved Field Formation: VIRUS-P Observations of NGC 5194 // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2009. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 704/1/842 . - arXiv : 0908.2810 .
- E. Schinnerer, A. Weiß, S. Aalto, and NZ Scoville. Multi-transition Study of M51'S Molecular Gas Spiral Arms (English) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2010. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 719/2/1588 . - arXiv : 1007.0692 .
- Narae Hwang and Myung Gyoon Lee. Vestige of the Star Cluster Burst in M 51 (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2010. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 709/1/411 . - arXiv : 0912.0321 .
- Jin Koda et al. CO (J = 1-0) Imaging of M 51 with CARMA and the Nobeyama 45 m Telescope (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - 2011. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0067-0049 / 193/1/19 . - arXiv : 1102.3060 .
- Jong Hwan Lee, Narae Hwang, and Myung Gyoon Lee. H II Region Luminosity Function of the Interacting Galaxy M 51 (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2011. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 735/2/75 . - arXiv : 1104.3669 .
- Joon Hyeop, Lee et al. Hubble Space Telescope Pixel Analysis of the Interacting Face-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 5194 (M51A) (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2011. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 740/1/42 . - arXiv : 1107.4827 .
- Schuyler D. Van Dyk et al. The Progenitor of Supernova 2011dh / PTF11eon in Messier 51 (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2011. - DOI : 10.1088 / 2041-8205 / 741/2 / L28 . - arXiv : 1106.2897 .
- Guilin Liu et al. The Super-linear Slope of the Spatially Resolved Star Formation Law in NGC 3521 and NGC 5194 (M 51a) (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2011. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 735/1/63 . - arXiv : 1104.4122 .
- Adam M. Ritchey and George Wallerstein. Interstellar Sodium and Calcium Absorption toward SN 2011dh in M 51 (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2012. - DOI : 10.1088 / 2041-8205 / 748/1 / L11 . - arXiv : 1202.3156 .
- Sharon E. Meidt et al. Reconstructing Galaxies Using S4G IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm Images. I. Correcting for Contamination by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Hot Dust, and Intermediate-age Stars (Eng.) // The Astrophysical Journal . - 2012. - DOI : 10.1088 / 0004-637X / 744/1/17 . - arXiv : 1110.2683 .