page_title: Whirlpool Galaxy
section_title: Properties
hierarchical_section_title: Whirlpool Galaxy / Properties
caption_attribution_description: The nucleus of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). The location of the black hole at the center of the galaxy. The cross was first interpreted as two dust rings circling the nucleus. It was later determined to simply be foreground dust lanes silhouetted by the active nucleus. Bright ionization cones can be seen extending perpendicular to the largest dust feature.
context_page_description: The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be 23 million light-years away from Earth.
  The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, who study it to understand galaxy structure and galaxy interactions.
context_section_description: Whirlpool Galaxy lies 23 million light years from Earth and has an estimated diameter of 76,000 light years. Overall the galaxy is about 43% the size of the Milky Way. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses. or around 10.3% of the mass of Milky Way Galaxy. 
  A black hole, once thought to be surrounded by a ring of dust, but now believed to be partially occluded by dust instead, exists at the heart of the spiral. A pair of ionization cones extend from the active galactic nucleus.
caption: A 1992 Hubble image showing a knot of dust once thought to be a pair of rings encircling a black hole.
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