Deep Submillimeter Image of M51 taken with SHARCII 
Dr. Jin Koda at Caltech
and his collaborators took a deep submillimeter image of M51, the
Whirlpool Galaxy, 23 million light years away using the SHARCII, 384
pixels submillimeter camera. The pronounced spiral arms are believed to
be the result of a close encounter with its companion galaxy (NGC
5195), which is gliding past behind the main galaxy (NGC5194).
The interaction is also responsible much enhanced star forming
activities by compressing dust and molecular gas in the spiral arms.
The SHRACII image highlights cold dust, indicating the current and
future sites of star formation. Interestingly, the companion galaxy
shows significant cold dust emission although almost no star formation
is associated. The presence of the cold dust may indicate future
starburst in the companion galaxy.
Figure 1. Right: SHARCII dust continuum image of the Whirlpool
Galaxy M51
taken at 350 micron.
Left: a multi-color composite image in optical wavelengths from the
Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST),
obtained by S. Beckwith & the Hubble Heritage Team.
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