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Messier 51 — Galaxy in Canes Venatici

NGC 5195

Galaxy Good (52/100)

Lenticular

Magnitude 9.6m Galaxy Canes Venatici (CVn) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 9.6
Angular Size 5.5′ × 4.4′
Position Angle 79°
Distance 26.68 million ly
Galaxy Type Lenticular (SB0 pec)
B, pS, lE, vgbM, inv in M51

Position & Identifiers

RA 13h 30m 00.0s
Dec +47° 16' 00.0"
Constellation Canes Venatici (CVn)
Catalog NGC 5195
Also known as M 51; Whirlpool galaxy

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Easy Medium+ Medium+
150mm Newt. Easy Easy Easy
C8 203mm Easy Easy Easy
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Easy on Seestar S50

3Visibility

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Best season Mar – May (peak: Apr)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

M51 · 5.5′×4.4′ · N up, E left

5 Best Magnification

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6 Surface Brightness

7 Morphology Decoder

8 Inclination & True Shape

9 Redshift

10 Size Comparator

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11

Light Travel Time Machine

12

Relativistic Travel

Nearby in the Sky

Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.

Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.

M51
NGC 5194
Medium
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 8.4 0.1° Canes Venatici
M51
Whirlpool Galaxy
Medium
Barred spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 8.4 0.1° Canes Venatici
NGC 5198
Hard+
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 13.0 0.6° Canes Venatici
NGC 5173
Hard+
Elliptical galaxy
Galaxy mag 13.0 0.7° Canes Venatici
TU CVn
Easy
Semi-regular variable, range 5.5–6.6
Variable Star mag 5.84 5.9° Canes Venatici
Mizar
Zeta UMa (BS5054)
Easy
Colorful double, sep 14.4″
Double Star mag 2.27 7.7° Ursa Major
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