Galaxies · Galaxy · spiral galaxy
The Whirlpool Galaxy and its companion in Hubble’s 2005 mosaic: blue star clusters, pink hydrogen and brown dust lanes.
Featured palette: Hubble mosaic, 2005 (Sampled from this image)
#584E4B#050D0F#1B2223#393A3B#5F5654#8B776F#CBAF9E
Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). · released 25 April 2005
About Whirlpool Galaxy
The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is a grand spiral interacting with a smaller companion galaxy.
| Classification | Galaxy (spiral galaxy) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | M51 |
| Distance | 25.0 million light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESA/Hubble |
| Observed light (this view) | B, V, H-alpha + Nii, I |
Why these colours?
Arms of stars and gas
Hubble filters B, V, hydrogen-alpha and near-infrared I are combined. The hydrogen-alpha filter records glowing hydrogen, which this composite shows in pink.
From: Hubble mosaic, 2005 Multiwavelength composite
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Whirlpool Galaxy.
Hubble mosaic, 2005
Sampled from this image · Hubble mosaic, 2005
#584E4BRGB 88, 78, 75region average#050D0FRGB 5, 13, 1525% of the region#1B2223RGB 27, 34, 3524% of the region#393A3BRGB 57, 58, 5920% of the region#5F5654RGB 95, 86, 8415% of the region#8B776FRGB 139, 119, 11112% of the region#CBAF9ERGB 203, 175, 1584% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Whirlpool Galaxy
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Whirlpool Arms
Inspired by this object
#010E11RGB 1, 14, 17from #050D0F#172325RGB 23, 35, 37from #1B2223#383A3CRGB 56, 58, 60from #393A3B#635551RGB 99, 85, 81from #5F5654#937467RGB 147, 116, 103from #8B776F#D7AB8FRGB 215, 171, 143from #CBAF9E
The Whirlpool’s pinks and blues brightened for a lively palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Whirlpool Galaxy’s colours
Is the pink real?
It marks hydrogen-alpha emission recorded through a narrow filter; the colour assignment follows the publisher’s processing.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- Galaxies — NASA
- Out of this whirl: The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and companion galaxy — ESA/Hubble
Image credits
- Hubble mosaic, 2005: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 626f7d6ba30d186a87b834c089b449e3b77c8defce4fe85ab7edf2078e3633e2).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 941cf9efb0fc. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.