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M51 and then some

Galaxies are often far more than the stuff we see, even in the best of Hubble photo's, there are stars, dust and gas that stretch out at densities too low to be picked up in some of the most iconic images.

Here M51 is recorded over 255 Hours, collecting all the light and gas at far lower densities, revealing the structure of M51 and the merging galaxy, and how huge plumes of stars and dust and gas are being kicked out way beyond the apparent confines of the spiral galaxy itself.

This is the same situation around most galaxies, the halo area reaching out from the Milky Way so far, it's thought in some parts to potentially be interacting with Andromeda's halo, over 2.1 million light years away, albeit at a very low level (so far).