Spiral galaxy M51 in Canes Venatici

by: Nasa/Hubble heritage team/Novapix
Reference: a-gax51-94006
Date: 2006-09-12

This image of the cenral area of M51 was taken with the Hubble space telescope in 1999. Located in the constellation of Canes Venatici, the "hunting dogs", M51 consists of the large spiral galaxy NGC 5194 and its smaller companion NGC 5195 (out of field). The reddish areas are nebulae in the galaxy in which stars are rapidly forming. M51 is approximately 31 million light years away and over 65,000 light years in diameter.

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