Astronomy Pic – The Whirlpool Galaxy

Here is my latest astro-image. This is probably my best one so far 🙂 .

I am hoping to get some better colour data tonight which should really make a difference, but even so, I think this one came out nicely as is. The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is about 37 Million Light Years away. The smaller companion galaxy is being absorbed into the larger Spiral Galaxy. Seeing as the light for this image took 37 Million years to reach my camera, I suspect that the show is over by now and the small Galaxy is no more..