M51 Nucleus in the Light of Hydrogen

A detailed view of the very center of the spiral galaxy M51 in the light of hydrogen. We see darker dust silhoueted against the light from stars and glowing gas.

About the data

This image was created from HST data from proposal 10452 : S. Beckwith (STScI), R. Kennicutt Jr. (University of Arizona), and H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, K. Noll, and T. Royle (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI). Note: High level science products (combined and mosaiced fits files for each filter) are available at: http://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/m51