Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

M51 Hubble Remix

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 26, 2009 is “M51 Hubble Remix,” an image. It is credited to S. Beckwith ( STScI ), Hubble Heritage Team , (STScI/ AURA ), ESA , NASA Additional Processing: Robert Gendler. The original explanation runs about 146 words.

M51 Hubble Remix
Credit: S. Beckwith ( STScI ), Hubble Heritage Team , (STScI/ AURA ), ESA , NASA Additional Processing: Robert Gendler Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog is perhaps the original spiral nebula – a large galaxy with a well defined spiral structure also cataloged as NGC 5194. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51’s spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (top), NGC 5195 .”

— APOD editors, December 26, 2009

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 26, 2009
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: S. Beckwith ( STScI ), Hubble Heritage Team , (STScI/ AURA ), ESA , NASA Additional Processing: Robert Gendler
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 146 words

All of December 2009 → · 2009 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

NebulaeGalaxiesHubble Space Telescope

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 26 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.