One of the closest and most spectacular galaxies in the sky is M51, the Whirlpool. A grand design face-on spiral with a small, irregular companion, it's so bright and big that it's a favorite target for amateurs. So you just know when you point Hubble at it, what you get is nothing short of jaw-dropping heart-aching beauty. Voila:
[Click to galactify.] This image, using the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys, was originally released in 2005, but was recently reprocessed by the phenomenal astrophotographer Robert Gendler. And yeah, you absolutely want to click that link to see the work Robert has done. He's incredible. I could go on and on about the galaxy, the glorious spiral arms, the red glow of nebular star birth factories, the odd companion that apparently has drawn out that long tidal tail of stars from the spiral, and so on... but you've read that stuff here ...
