The M51 Group is a
group of galaxies
A galaxy group or group of galaxies (GrG) is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer gravitationally bound members, each at least as luminous as the Milky Way (about 1010 times the luminosity of the Sun); collections of galaxies ...
located in
Canes Venatici
Canes Venatici () is one of the 88 constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for 'hunting dogs', and ...
. The group is named after the brightest galaxy in the group, the
Whirlpool Galaxy
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting 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 classifie ...
(M51A). Other notable members include the companion galaxy to the Whirlpool Galaxy (
M51B) and the
Sunflower Galaxy (M63).
Members
The table below lists galaxies that have been consistently identified as group members in the Nearby Galaxies Catalog,
the survey of Fouque et al.,
the Lyons Groups of Galaxies (LGG) Catalog,
and the three group lists created from the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample of Giuricin et al.
Other probable members (galaxies listed in two or more of the lists from the above references) include
IC 4263 and
UGC 8320. The exact membership is somewhat uncertain.
Nearby Groups
The M51 Group is located to the southeast of the
M101 Group and the
NGC 5866 Group
The NGC 5866 Group is a small group of galaxies located in the constellation Draco. The group is named after NGC 5866, the galaxy with the highest apparent magnitude in the group, although some galaxy group catalogs list NGC 5907 as the brighte ...
.
The distances to these three groups (as determined from the distances to the individual member galaxies) are similar, which suggests that the M51 Group, the M101 Group, and the NGC 5866 Group are actually part of a large, loose, elongated structure.
However, most group identification methods (including those used by the references cited above) identify these three groups as separate entities.
See also
*
Virgo Supercluster
The Virgo Supercluster (Virgo SC) or the Local Supercluster (LSC or LS) is a mass concentration of galaxies containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At least ...
References
External links
M51 group, SEDS Messier pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:M51 Group
Canes Venatici