NGC 5195

Irregular Galaxy NGC 5195

(= H I.186)

type Pec,

in Canes Venatici

Companion of M51

Right Ascension	13 : 30.0 (h:m)
Declination	+47 : 16 (deg:m)
Distance	37000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	9.6 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	6.4×4.6 (arc min)

NGC 5195, the companion of M51, was discovered

by Pierre Mechain on March 20, 1781. It was assigned an own number by

William Herschel: H I.186.

This galaxy has undergone a close encounter with the larger and more massive

M51 several million years ago. During this encounter, it has been significantly

distorted from an original disk to irregular shape; the encounter has also

significantly enhanced the spiral structure of larger M51.

It is thought that NGC 5195 has passed M51 roughly along our line of sight and

is now behind its large neighbor.

NGC 5195 is the smaller, distorted galaxy in the lower part of our image.

This image has been cropped from a larger

Isaac Newton Telescope image

of both interacting galaxies M51 and NGC 5195.

NGC 5195 can be seen in many images of M51.

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected])

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 29 Mar 1998, 12:35 MET