The Whirlpool Galaxy and Galactic Cannibalism

A series of 5 one minute exposures created this image of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy at the CSM Observatory.
CSM Observatory, Luis Alvarez

And here's the image that Hubble took!
S. Beckwith (STScI), Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA
Additional Processing: Robert Gendler

Notice the illustriousness of the Hubble picture, but no matter, earth based observatories cannot compete with space based observatories due to atmospheric abberations. Regardless of who took the image, it is a wonderful galactic collision that is going on often called galactic cannibalism, I call it a dance of sorts. M51A, the spiral monster to the left, at about 60,000 light-years across, is essentially devouring our small friend, M51B. The monstrous gravitational pull of the larger galaxy is stronger than the momentum the smaller galaxy exhibits in its' orbit and is therefore pulled into the larger galaxy. Because M51A is much larger than its meal, it will probably retain it's spiral shape, though often times, irregular and elliptical galaxies are produced, but knowing exactly what will occur will take millions of years after the event. A good thing to note, is that this process in itself takes millions of years alone, so don't try and wait around to see what happens. The red and blue colors within the galaxy are indicative of stars, and the massive center contains a supermassive black hole, along with an extreme concentration of stars (that's why it's extremely luminous). The Whirlpool Galaxy lies about 23 ± 4 million light-years away, has an apparent magnitude of about 8.4 and is located in the constellation Canes Venatici which is close to the Big Dipper Handle!

If you're reading this and don't know what some of the words mean, let me know and I will enjoy explaining them to you!