Managed to get 3 x 5 minute exposures last night on Messier 51.  Here is the stacked, combined, and stretched version.

Camera: Starlight Xpress SX814
GuideCamera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar2
Mount: Modded EQ6 Pro with EQMOD
Scope: TMB 4 1/2" @F/7
Filter: Clear
Exposures: 3 x 300 seconds
Location: South Common Observatory

M51 was first "discovered" by Charles Messier on 13th October 1773. See this page and this page for loads more info...

https://www.messier-objects.com/messier-51-whirlpool-galaxy/

Messier 51, as it is known, was 2 galaxies fighting each other (is/was! It takes the light approx 31 million years to get here, so we are looking back in history!). Galaxy M51 is "feeding" from Galaxy M51a (the smaller "ball" of stars). We are witnessing the collision of 2 Galaxies. A similar "feeding" of gas, dust, and stars will occur when the Milky Way (us) & Messier 31 (the Andromeda Galaxy, another bright nearby Galaxy which is approx 2.5 Million Light Years away (plus or minus a lot!)

It was discovered a few hundred years ago, and is famous for a number of reasons. One of which is the fluctuations in the approx distance between Earth and M51.