Whirlpool Galaxy Deep Field NASA – May 26, 2009
Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar. Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 6217, pictured above, was captured in spectacular detail in this recently released image taken by the newly repaired Advanced Camera for Surveys on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Visible are dark filamentary dust lanes, young clusters of bright blue stars, red emission nebulas of glowing hydrogen gas, a long bright bar of stars across the center, and a bright active nucleus that likely houses a supermassive black hole. Light takes about 60 million years to reach us from NGC 6217, which spans about 30,000 light years across and can be found toward the constellation of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor).
The Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as Messier 51a, M51a, or NGC 5194) is an
interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic
nucleus[8] in the constellation Canes Venatici. Recently it was estimated to be
23 ± 4 million light-years from the Milky Way, but different methods yield
distances between 15 and 35 million ly. Messier 51 is one of the best known
galaxies in the sky. The galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily
observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with
binoculars.[ The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a popular target for professional astronomers,
who study it to further understand galaxy structure (particularly structure
associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions.
