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Jerry Sharp | all galleries >> Landscape And Nature Photographs >> Astrophotography > M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
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02-13-2013 Gerald Sharp

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

My backyard in Longmont, CO

The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici. Estimated to be around 24 million light years from Earth. What you see is a smaller galaxy being "eaten" by the larger galaxy. The smaller galaxy came drifting by and was caught by the gravity of the larger galaxy which is now sucking in all the stars and matter from the smaller one.

Canon EOS 7D ,Meade 8" f/6.3 SCT
100 - 30 second light frames at ISO 12800. 10 dark frames at ISO 12800. All stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post processed in Adobe Photoshop. full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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