Whirlpool Galaxy   M51

M51 is a beautiful spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici gravitationally pulling on its neighbor NGC5195 .

M51 is approximately 37,000,000 light years away.

Backyard image with 12" LX200 GPS @ f6.3 / SBIG ST8E / CFW8 cooled to -25c

OAT was 60 F. 4-8-02

60 min. lum 1x1, 20 red, 20 green and 30 blue binned 2x2