M51 "Whirlpool" Galaxy in Canes Venatici, at a distance of about 30 million light years from us, is swallowing its smaller companion.
The companion probably was an ordinary spiral galaxy before the clash, now it's lost many of its stars and interstellar clouds (a portion of them created a faint bridge between galaxies).
The main galaxy is smaller than our own Milky Way (is about 2/3 of it) while it is brighter because of many hot young stars have been forming as a result of the collision.
The galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773 by Charles Messier and was designated as M51 in his Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters.
There are several other dim galaxies in the vicinity of M51, which are marked in the annotated image (prepared with nova.astrometry.net):
The companion probably was an ordinary spiral galaxy before the clash, now it's lost many of its stars and interstellar clouds (a portion of them created a faint bridge between galaxies).
The main galaxy is smaller than our own Milky Way (is about 2/3 of it) while it is brighter because of many hot young stars have been forming as a result of the collision.
Canon EOS 600D + EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 55-250mm IS II + EQ5.
49 frames by 60sec, f/7, ISO 800; 15 darks, 15 bias, 15 flats. The picture is cropped. Processed with IRIS, FITSwork4, RawTherapee.
The galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773 by Charles Messier and was designated as M51 in his Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters.
The first astronomer who discovered that the object is spiral shaped was William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse. Using big Newtonian telescopes (made by himself) he revealed spiral nature of some nebulous objects, which are known as galaxies now. Here is his drawing of Whilrpool galaxy (1845):
Picture was taken from Wikipedia article
There are several other dim galaxies in the vicinity of M51, which are marked in the annotated image (prepared with nova.astrometry.net):
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