galaxy M51 and galaxy NGC 4501

Galaxy M51 is a whirlpool galaxy that has hundreds of new stars being born. This photo was taken from hubble space telescope. It was first discovered in 1773 by Charles Messier. When observing a comet he discribed it as a “very faint nebula, without stars” which is difficult  to see.

And galaxy NGC 4501 was also discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. The galaxy is a member of the virgo cluster and is a spiral galaxy . It is 47 million light-years away from our solar system.

~ by darkpanther14 on December 8, 2007.