NGC 5195

Right Ascension	13 : 30.0 (h:m)
Declination	+47 : 16 (deg:m)
Distance	37000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	9.6 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	6.4x4.6 (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.

Last Modification: 29 Mar 1998, 12:35 MET