by Dave Mitsky
This is a preliminary version of an image of the two well-known interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici that I took remotely on 2009/2/28 using a LightBuckets 20" f/8.1 RC Optical Systems Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain located in Mayhill, New Mexico. The camera employed was a Santa Barbara Instruments Group Model STL-11000M.
For further information on M51 (NGC 5194), browse http://messier.seds.org/m/m051.html