#m82

[quiltofstars]

Bode's Galaxy (M81, left) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82, right) // EW

[dame-de-pique]

Spiral galaxy M81, 82 - Ursae Majoris, n.d.

[spacevoyagerx]

Cigar Galaxy M82

The Cigar Galaxy, also known as Messier 82 (M82), is a fascinating starburst galaxy located approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

It is notable for its elongated shape, which resembles a cigar, and is classified as a starburst galaxy due to its exceptionally high rate of star formation—about ten times faster than that of our Milky Way.

M82 is undergoing intense star formation, producing hundreds to thousands of solar masses in stars each year. This activity is primarily fueled by gravitational interactions with its neighboring galaxy, Messier 81 (M81), which has likely funneled gas into M82's core.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI), and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

[clouds-inside]

🌌far far away, but maybe not too far: interacting galaxies, bode's galaxy and cigar galaxy (M81 + M82)...and one guest: lirids meteor shower ☄️

[all-roads-are-now-bent]

M82//Cigar Galaxy (upper), M81//Bode's Galaxy (center) and NGC 3077 (lower).

M82 is catagorized as a starburst galaxy, M81 is catagorized as a grand design spiral galaxy, and NGC 3077 is catagorized as a elliptical galaxy.

Photo taken and processed by me.

[the-maddest-robot]

Photo a few galaxies, M81 / bode's galaxy (centre), M82/the cigar galaxy (left) and NGC 3077 (right)

In addition to those three galaxies, there are many other (much) smaller ones hidden among the stars (a few examples):

The red-ish filament visible around M82 are ionised hydrogen gas and dust pushed outwards by galactic-superwind

Those are tough to be a combination of solar winds created by young stars and the shockwaves of frequent supernovas. They mostly occur in starburst galaxy a type of galaxies that experience heightened stars formation generally due to recent gravitational interaction with other galaxies, in the case of M82 the trigger is most likely its neighbour M81.

(Image taken using a CarbonStar 150/600 newtonian telescope with a 0.95 coma corrector, ZWO ASI294 monochrome camera ZWO LRGB filters and Baader 6.5nm Ha filter. 12x180s image for each colour filter (RGB), 6x300s for the Ha filter, total imaging time 2h 54min, stacking and processing done in PixInsight.)

[colorpicked-pride-flags-jwst]

Pansexual flag colorpicked from M82 galaxy

[itsfullofstars]