M51; Whirlpool Galaxy.

[cotterless45]

Nearly overhead this morning and into the darkest part of my light polluted sky. At x60, I could pick out how clear and bright it was and see ngc5195 connected. At x100 there was some spiral, a bright halo and the inclusive star. The connective bits were clear.It's a wonderful galaxy, easy to find and worth spending time observing.

All this with a SW 200p, 21 mm and 12mm eps.

[John]

It's a great galaxy in medium apertures under dark skies. I've seen the spiral structure clearly with a 12" under dark skies but I it's less distinct from my home with my 10" newtonian. You 200p is doing very nicely !

I spent a lot of time observing M51 earlier this year when the Supernova was showing in it - it's a lovely object when you spend time on it

[Mr Q]

It's one of my favorite objects. For a long time, it was believed the two components are interacting but in recent times, some are suggesting it's just a chance angle of view that makes it appear there are two galaxies interacting.

Has anyone heard if the problem was ever solved?

[Sam]

M51 is such a fantastic view and it's a real treat to see the spiral arms so clearly. If you get a chance to see it from a dark sky location you can make out quite a lot of detail in the arms.

[DarkerSky]

Agree. A superb galaxy to spend time on and get the rewards of spiral details. Like others I spent some time observing it earlier in the year with SN2011dh. Even managed to get some nice detail in an early June night sky.