M-82 ~ Cigar Galaxy ~ 3Min

Captured using the Stamford observatory's 22-inch telescope in photographic mode.

Discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774.

Forming a most conspicuous physical pair with its neighbor, M81 (THE showpiece galaxies for many Northern hemispherers), this galaxy is the prototype of an irregular of the second type, i.e. a "disk" irregular. Its core seems to have suffered dramatically from a semi-recent close encounter with M81, being in a heavy starburst and displaying conspicuous dark lanes. This turbulent explosive gas flow is also a strong source of radio noise, discovered by Henbury Brown in 1953. The radio source was first called Ursa Major A (strongest radio source in UMa) and cataloged as 3C 231 in the Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources.

In the infrared light, M82 is the brightest galaxy in the sky; it exhibits a so-called infrared excess (it is much brighter at infrared wavelengths than in the visible part of the spectrum). This behaviour can also be observed for the companion of M51, NGC 5195, and the peculiar galaxy NGC 5128 (Centaurus A). The visual appearance is that of a silvery sliver, as John Mallas decribed it.

More info

Right Ascension	09 : 55.8 (h:m)
Declination	+69 : 41 (deg:m)
Distance	12000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	8.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	9x4 (arc min)

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