Journey to Star-forming Regions of Galaxy Messier 51 in Canes Venatici

Journey to Star-forming Regions of Galaxy Messier 51 in Canes Venatici

This video takes the viewer on a journey through space to locate a star-forming complex in one of the spiral arms of Messier 51 (M51), measuring almost 800 light-years across. M51 is located about 27 million light-years away from Earth. The thick cloud of star-forming gas, in which clumps collapsed to form each of the individual star clusters, is shown here in red and orange colours that represent infrared light emitted by ionised gas, dust grains, and complex molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, the FEAST JWST team, The Hubble Heritage Team, WIYN/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Digitized Sky Survey 2, M. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), A. Pedrini, A. Adamo, S. Beckwith, K. Rhode, M. Young , E. Slawik, N. Risinger, M. Zamani
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: May 6, 2026

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