In this false color IRAS image, the Whirlpool Galaxy and its com- panion NGC 5195 appear as little more than smudges. The white region is the center of Whirlpool; NGC 5195 is the green blob at the top. Gone are the sweeping spiral arms that appear so prominently in visible light.
The IRAS satellite was designed to image the entire sky, but it did so at the expense of the detail achieved through ground-based optical observations. Nonetheless, this blurry far infrared image provides important information. Far infrared light comes mostly from giant clouds of warm radiant dust, not from stars. The bright blobs centered on WhirlpoolΓÇÖs nucleus and its companion indicate vast numbers of newborn stars hidden behind cocoons of dust.
