A bright Starburst galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, about 12 million light-years away. It’s also known as the Cigar Galaxy because of its elliptical shape.
M 82 is generally photographed with M 81, Bode’s Galaxy. I pointed the 8″ RC telescope at it to get as much detail as I could on just this galaxy.
M82 is a spiral galaxy that’s undergoing a starburst, a massive burst of star formation in its core. It has a gravitatioonal interaction with its nearby galaxy, M81, which causes it to have an extremely high rate of star formation.
M82 is a prototype starburst galaxy and the second-largest member of the M81 group. It’s bright at infrared wavelength and has over 30 billion stars.
M82 can be found in the northern skies in the direction of Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear.
Messier 81 (M81), also known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy lies at an approximate distance of 11.8 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 6.94. It also has the designation NGC 3031. Bode’s Galaxy is home to over 250 billion stars and is the most remote blueshifted (moving toward us) large galaxy known.
This image is a stack of 5 hours of exposures taken from my driveway. Primary imaging gear – Telescope is the WO Z73 w/flat73A (430mm doublet refractor f5.9). Camera is the ZWO ASI071MC Pro cooled to 20f. Computerized Equitorial mount is the SkyWatcher EQ6r Pro. The support ensemble include the QHY Polemaster, WO 50mm guidescope with ZWO ASI120mm mini guide camera, Pegasus PBA, Intel NUC, Senso Sesto 2 Electronic Focuser w/temp probe. The software suite include windows 10 pro platform, Astro Photography Tool (APT) for image acquisition and auto focusing, PHD2 for guiding, ASTAP for plate solving, eqmod and ascom provide the interface support. Image processing was done manually in PixInsight. Metadata information added in Adobe Bridge and JPEG conversion performed in PhotoShop.
I wasn’t certain my wide focal length scope at 430mm would adequately capture these very small targets. I look forward to a longer FL refractor telescope in my future for these size targets, but for now this is it. Happy to see that I wasnt wasting my time imaging these.
The active galactic nucleus of M81 contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 70 million solar masses, or 15 times the mass of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Messier 81 has two well resolved spiral arms that contain large quantities of interstellar dust, associated with numerous starburst regions. Images of M81 taken at infrared wavelengths by the Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed that the interstellar dust is responsible for most of the infrared emissions detected in the galaxy. The hot, young, blue stars in the star forming regions of M81 heat the dust, increasing the emissions from these regions.
Several other members of the M81 Group, including the Cigar Galaxy (M82), are located in the same region of the sky. The Cigar Galaxy can be seen 38 arc minutes north of M81 (just below it in this image). The two galaxies can easily be seen in binoculars and small telescopes, but are not visible to the naked eye. M82 is smaller and fainter than M81, but is a wonderful example of a starburst galaxy and the two make a popular pair among astronomers. NGC 3077 (The Garland Galaxy)can be seen in the upper left part of the image.
I hope you enjoy this image of my first galaxy. Cheers!
