Ooh, a galaxy!

We finally had a clear night last night. Here's the Whirlpool galaxy (aka M51). It's a 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. It is 31 million light-years away. It's famous for its well-defined spiral arms and its interaction with a smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195. These two galaxies are visible with binoculars.

Seestar S50

Stacked and processing in Pixinsight
About 230 images, 30 seconds each