M51 – Whirlpool Galaxy
What we call the Whirlpool Galaxy is actually a pair of galaxies interacting with each other. A scenario proposes that the small one, NGC5195, did traverse a few times its companion and is now located slightly behind the larger M51. The iconic two galaxies of the M51 object are special to me: they were my first target when I restarted astrophotography in 2015.
This project was executed in April 2021, and is a standard one-hour exposure in Red, Green and Blue. Although it is possible to zoom in, I kept a minimal cropping to compare with other galaxies I took. Several smaller galaxies are also visible here and there in the field.