M51, the “Whirlpool” galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, is about 30 million light years away from the Milky Way. The image shows two colliding galaxies, which have torn stars from their outer parts and spread them over much of the field of this image. The image is from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The red, green, and blue color planes represent infra-red, red, and green filters.