M-51 (NGC-5194/5195) is a Spiral Galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). M-51 is a grand design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert type 2 active galactic nucleus. It is classified as a type SA(s)bc pec galaxy. It lies 31 million light years from Earth and is over 76,000 light years in diameter. It is interacting with the galaxy NGC-5195, a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is passing beyond M-51. It is visible at the end of one of M-51's spiral arms, which has been stretched and distorted due to gravitational interaction with this passing galaxy.
This image is a 1 hour 30 minute integration of 3 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 telescope at f/6.3, using the Starizona Reducer/Corrector III and the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro CMOS color camera, operating at -15 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools, Digital Development, and NoiseWare.