Follow the handle of
the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and
you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies,
the 51st entry in Charles Messier famous catalog. Perhaps the
original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its
spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (right),
NGC 5195.
The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation
Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye, deep images
like this one can reveal striking colors and the faint
tidal debris around the smaller galaxy.
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