NGC 5195 (original) (raw)

Irregular Galaxy NGC 5195(= H I.186 = M51 B), type Pec, in Canes Venatici

Companion of M51

[ ](../../Pics/Jpg/n5195wfc.jpg)

Discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781.

NGC 5195, the companion of M51, was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 20, 1781. Charles Messier mentions it in his description of M51 in the final (1781) edition of his original catalog. It was assigned an own number by William Herschel when he cataloged it on May 12, 1787: H I.186.

Because of Messier's description, NGC 5195 is sometimes considered as part of Messier Object 51; then the main galaxy, NGC 5194, is denoted M51 A. Independent of this, NGC 5195 is frequently referred to as M51 B.

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 imageof both interacting galaxies M51 and NGC 5195. NGC 5195 can be seen in many images of M51.

One supernova has been discovered in NGC 5195 so far: Supernova 1945A was found by Humason in this galaxy on April 8, 1945, 6'W and 4'S of the galaxy's nucleus, and reached mag 14.0.

• NED data of NGC 5195
• SIMBAD Data of NGC 5195
• Publications on NGC 5195 (NASA ADS)
• Observing Reports for NGC 5195 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)
• NGC Online data for NGC 5195

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: March 29, 1998