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| M81/M82 - NGC3031/NGC3034 - Bode's Galaxy (v2)
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Ursa Major
Reprocessing from 2009 image. Physical group of galaxies about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. One of the closest groups to the Local Group, which contains the Milky Way. |
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Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy, left on image) is one of the most striking examples of a grand design spiral galaxy, with near perfect arms spiraling into the very center. Because of its proximity to Earth, its large size, and its active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million solar mass supermassive black hole) Messier 81 is a popular galaxy to study in professional astronomy research.
Messier 81 was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774. Consequently, the galaxy is sometimes referred to as "Bode's Galaxy". In 1779, Pierre Méchain and Charles Messier reidentified Bode's object, which was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue.
Messier 81 is the largest galaxy in the M81 Group, a group of 34 galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major. The distance from the Earth to the group is approximately 11.7 Mly (3.6 Mpc).
M81 is gravitationally interacting with Messier 82 and NGC 3077. The interactions have stripped some hydrogen gas away from all three galaxies, leading to the formation of filamentary gas structures in the group. Moreover, the interactions have also caused some interstellar gas to fall into the centers of Messier 82 and NGC 3077, which has led to strong starburst activity (or the formation of many stars) within the centers of these two galaxies.
Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034 or the Cigar Galaxy) is the prototype nearby starburst galaxy. The starburst galaxy is five times as bright as the whole Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's center.
In 2005, the Hubble revealed 197 young massive clusters in the starburst core of M82. The average mass of these clusters is around 2 × 105 M⊙, hence the starburst core is a very energetic and high-density environment. Throughout the galaxy's center, young stars are being born 10 times faster than they are inside our entire Milky Way Galaxy.
In the core of M82, the active starburst region spans a diameter of 500 pc. In optical, there are four high surface brightness regions or clumps (designated A, C, D, and E). These clumps correspond to known sources at X-ray, infrared, and radio frequencies. Consequently, they are thought to be the least obscured starburst clusters from our vantage point. M82's unique bipolar outflow (or 'superwind') appears to be concentrated on clumps A and C and fueled by the energy injected by supernova that occur about once every ten years.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory detected fluctuating X-ray emissions from a location approximately 600 light-years away from the center of M82. Astronomers have postulated that this fluctuating emission comes from the first known intermediate-mass black hole, of roughly 200 to 5000 solar masses. M82, like most galaxies, hosts a supermassive black hole at its center with a mass of approximately 3 x 107 solar masses as measured from stellar dynamics.
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Reprocessing from 2009 image (click on image):
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| Technical details: |
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Location: |
Valdemorillo - Spain |
Date: |
19/12/2009 (dd/mm/yyyy) |
Conditions: |
Good |
Temperature: |
-1ºCºC |
Humidity: |
52 |
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Telescope: |
GSO Reflector 200mm f/4
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Reducer/corrector: |
Baader MPCC
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Filter: |
IDAS LPS 2"
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Mount: |
Vixen GPD2 Autostar Meade
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Camera: |
Canon 350D no filter
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Exposure: |
11x300s@800iso |
Guiding tube: |
B&C 60/350 f7
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Guiding camera: |
Meade DSI Pro
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Guiding software: |
PHD Guiding
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Procesing: |
Reprocessing from final TIFF generated on dec 2009.
No good darks (used 180s 11ºC library darks). |
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Notes: |
It's easy to see PGC28225, a small 15.1 magnitude spiral galaxy at the bottom right of this picture. There are other faint objects all over the image, as PGC2730409, a very small 17.8 magnitude galaxy left side of M82, or PGC2726822, a 16.9 galaxy over M81.
En el campo hay varias galaxias.
En la parte inferior derecha se aprecia la galaxia PGC28225 de marnitud 15.1
A la izquierda de M82 se encuentra PGC2730409, una galaxia de la magnitud 17.8
Encima de M81 está PGC2726822, una galaxia de magnitud 16.9
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