M 82 - The beautiful Starburst galaxy

[glactus]

Messier 82 - The Starburst galaxy

Messier 82 is gravitationally bound to its much larger companion, Messier 81. It is therefore approximately the same distance from us, 12 million light years, and is located in the constellation Ursa Major. Magnitude is 8.4


Messier 81

M82 is classified as an irregular galaxy, but its unusual appearance has led many to describe it as a prototypical example of a peculiar galaxy. It is also one of the brightest infrared and radio sources in the celestial sky, a result of galaxy-wide bursts of star formation. Such galaxies are known as starburst galaxies.

A visible-light image suggests that M82 might be nothing more than an edge-on galaxy. But it appears to be surrounded by a fuzzy halo, and wisps of optical emission are evident along a line that is roughly perpendicular to the major axis of the galaxy.

This color image confirms the presence of obscuring dust near the nucleus of Messier 82. Two features of the color image suggest that large amounts of dust are present in the galaxy.



Credits: These are NASA Hubble images

[Andy Mac]

Not an object that you get to see much (if at all) from 'Down Under' Henry because of its very high northerly declination.

The galaxy is probably being torn apart by its neighbour M81, a reason for its peculiar shape! A fairly bright object as seen through a modest telescope and certainly in images it displays unusual colours compared to the normal white/blue you get with images of most other galaxies.