Research Question
How is an interacting galaxy defined and does M51 fit the definition?
I chose this as my research question because I thought that our galaxy was a great canditate for looking at what actually defines an interacting galaxy. I figured that there must be some kind of standards a pair of galaxies must have to be considered officially interacting. I wanted to research into the definition of interacting galaxies, and then do analysis on our galaxy to see if it fits. In my research I discovered a criteria that in many studies defined interacting galaxies.
This criteria was;
I hope to discover if M51 fits into this criteria, and also if it exerts other effects that are typical of interacting galaxies.
Some effects of interacting galaxies;
From my previous research, I believe that M51 will fit the definition of interacting galaxies, and will showcase many of the effects that are typical of interacting galaxies.