M51 Group

The M51 Group is a group of galaxies located in Canes Venatici. The group is named after the brightest galaxy in the group, the Whirlpool Galaxy. Other notable members include the companion galaxy to the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Sunflower Galaxy.

Members

The table below lists galaxies that have been consistently identified as group members in the Nearby Galaxies Catalog, the survey of Fouque et al., the Lyons Groups of Galaxies Catalog, and the three group lists created from the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample of Giuricin et al.

Name	Type	R.A.	Dec.	Redshift	Apparent Magnitude
Whirlpool Galaxy	SAbc pec			463 ± 3	9.0
M51B	SB0 pec			465 ± 10	10.5
NGC 5023	Scd			407 ± 1	12.9
NGC 5229	SBd			364 ± 8	14.3
Sunflower Galaxy	SAbc			504 ± 4	9.3
UGC 8313	SBc			593 ± 4	14.4
UGC 8331	IAm			260 ± 5	14.6

Other probable members include IC 4263 and UGC 8320. The exact membership is somewhat uncertain.

Nearby Groups

The M51 Group is located to the southeast of the M101 Group and the NGC 5866 Group. The distances to these three groups are similar, which suggests that the M51 Group, the M101 Group, and the NGC 5866 Group are actually part of a large, loose, elongated structure. However, most group identification methods identify these three groups as separate entities.