The Whirlpool Galaxy
Almost overhead as viewed from Embsay there are two Galaxies colliding. I’ve been watching this happen for years and when I look years later they appear to be unchanged despite the years rolling by. The forces, distances and immense size of this cosmic ‘car crash’ is unimaginable, yet it gives the impression of a slow motion accident. What we know is that a galaxy, the Whirlpool Galaxy (slightly smaller than our own Milky Way) is in an interaction with a companion galaxy NGC 5195. Indeed it may have collided once already about 500 million years ago and again 50 million years ago. The gravitational interaction locking them together for many repeat encounters.
The Whirlpool Galaxy almost directly overhead on the 8th May at 10pm.
Image: Milan Davidovic Embsay April 2024
Within the Whirlpool, in September 2020 through a set of astronomical coincidences, it was possible to identify the first planet outside our own galaxy, slightly smaller than Saturn and named M51-ULS-1b. This is absolutely remarkable considering it is approximately 24 million light years away (1 light year is 5,800,000,000,000 miles!!!) I don’t think it would be a candidate for exploration as it is thought its surface is a very warm million degrees Celsius.
If I spent another $15 billion on my telescope, then I’d get the picture in this link!
The May Night Sky
Looking North from Embsay 8th May at 10pm
The familiar ‘W’ shape of Cassiopeia faces you as you look North this month - and to the right the Swan (Cygnus) is flying along the band of the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy is marked low in the sky and this too is hurtling towards us. In about three and a half billion years, like the Whirlpool Galaxy, the two galaxies will collide. It is likely that the Earth and Sun will survive as the distances between objects in each galaxy is huge. Our position, as with everything else, will be shifted in the chaos, but this is all speculation as even the most powerful computers are unable to establish what will happen with any degree of confidence.
Looking South from Embsay 8th May at 10pm
Virgo, the Greek goddess of Justice faces you looking South. It is the second largest constellation in the sky so it should be easy to spot. It is one of the constellations of the zodiac, all of which are situated along the yellow line called the ecliptic. This is the apparent path of the Sun across the sky but of course it is due to the Earth’s path around the Sun.
This is my final article for this season. I hope you have enjoyed reading them. If you have enjoyed reading this article, don’t forget you can refer to previous ones on my blog at:
Hoping for much clearer skies soon!
Milan Davidovic
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