This object is an interacting pair of galaxies that was first discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1773 and like all "M" classifications was catalogued by him. The companion galaxy is designated NGC 5195. There is a gas and dust bridge between the galaxies as their interacting gravity moves stars, gas and dust between the pair. It was the first galaxy recognised as a "Spiral," the same shape as our own Milky Way. It is located about 23 million light years away and is about 75,000 light years in diameter as compared to the Milky Way's diameter of about 100,000 light years.


Date: April 15 & 18 and May 16 & 18, 2007
Place: Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas dark site near Atoka, OK
Telescope: Orion 80ED at f/7.5 600mm Focal Length
Mount: Takahashi EM-10 Guided in RA by an SBIG ST-237 with an E-Finder
Camera: Canon 300D-Modified; controlled by ImagesPlus(IP)
Exposures:
Apr 15 & 18: 36 images totaling 81 mins.
May 16 & 18: 30 images totaling 120 mins.
Total exposure time: 3 hours and 21 mins.
Processing:
Dark calibrated, aligned and stacked in IP; finished in Photoshop CS2
North is left