The whirlpool galaxy is also known as the Messier 51 or M51. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1773. The galaxy is in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is 31 Million light years away from earth. Initially, this galaxy was categorized as a spiral Nebula. Later Edwin Hubble classified it as a galaxy.
Whirlpool galaxy vs Milky Way
Its diameter is 60,000 light years. It has 88% the size of the Milky Way & its mass is just 10% of the Milky Way. The galaxy has two beautiful arms. These two arms are made of long lanes of stars, gas, and dust. These two arms of this galaxy are also called star formation factories because they compress hydrogen gas and create a cluster of new stars.
Dwarf Whirlpool galaxy
On one of the arms, the galaxy is accompanied by another galaxy known as NGC 5195.
The galaxy teaches astronomers about how galaxies interact with each other and how star formation happens when the galaxies collide.
Whirlpool galaxy black hole
The galaxy has a supermassive black at its core. The supermassive black hole is just one-third of the Supermassive black hole Sagittarius A at the core of our Galaxy Milky Way.
When scientists observe this galaxy in a different wavelength. They found out that the galaxy has older yellower stars near the center. The younger stars were mostly found near the spiral arms of this galaxy.
How many stars are there in the Whirlpool galaxy?
The galaxy has some of the oldest stars spread throughout the whole galaxy. They also found several black holes and neutron stars in different locations inside this galaxy. The whole galaxy hosts more than 100 Billion stars.
How old is the Whirlpool galaxy?
The galaxy’s center ball of light is 400 million light years old and has a mass 40 million times larger than our sun. So you can say the galaxy is 400 million years old. The concentration of stars in this area of the whirlpool galaxy is 5000 times higher than the concentration of stars in our solar system.
How was the Whirlpool galaxy formed?
The galaxy is the result of its interaction with the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. At the moment these two galaxies are moving away from each other and scientist believes that the dwarf galaxy has passed through the galactic disk of the main M51 galaxy.
As mentioned earlier the interaction of the main galaxy and the dwarf galaxy has led to giving the whirlpool galaxy beautiful spiral-shaped arms.
Planets in the Whirlpool Galaxy
Before we know about the planets in a whirlpool galaxy, we need to know what X-ray binaries are. X-ray binaries are a class of binary stars that are luminous in X-rays & observed in x-rays only.
In 2020 when the Chandra observatory was observing X-ray binaries such as a pair of Neutron stars or a black hole. When they were looking at the X-ray binaries of M51-ULS-1 in this galaxy. They found one object blocked the X-ray signal for a few hours. Scientists ruled out all the possibilities of this block being caused by dust or gas or a small star. In the end, they had only an explanation, that it is a planet but this is not yet confirmed.
If confirmed the planet will be named M51-ULS-1b & it will be the first extra-galactic planet ever found. The planet would most probably be orbiting a Pulsar.
You can easily spot this galaxy with binoculars and a telescope from dark sky locations. If you want to learn more about stargazing and what different types of telescopes you can buy to view such beautiful views of the galaxies and the planets then check out other sections on our website.
