Images taken on my Vaonis Vespera II portable telescope in the New Forest. 1,584 images, each of 10 secs = total integration time of 4h 24min on 17 & 18 Mar 2026.

Per Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy. The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773, by Charles Messier. This is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is 31 million lightyears away and 76,900 light years in diameter.

As a result of the Whirlpool Galaxy's interaction with NGC 5195, a variety of tidal features have been created. The largest of these features is the so-called Northwest plume, which extends out to 140,000 light-years from the galaxy's centre.