M81 and M82 (reglogge)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: Bode's Galaxy · Cigar Galaxy · M 81 · M 82 · NGC 3031 · NGC 3034

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M81 and M82

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M81 and M82

Yet another "classic" target of galaxy season: the twin (and interacting) galaxies of M81 and M82. M82 (also known as the cigar galaxy) in particular is famous for the strong jets of hydrogen gas extending out of its core. These jets are caused by the rapid forming of new stars in its central area that has been triggered by a close pass-by of M81 about 500 million years ago. The area between the galaxies is filled with material that has been torn loose from both galaxies during that close encounter.

Also interesting is the irregular dwarf galaxy Holmberg IX, visible right below M81. Many further small galaxies can be detected all over the field.

I took this image over a number of nights from January to March 2022 from my balcony in light polluted Munich. Processing of the images in Pixinsight and final touchups in Affinity Photo.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5753958
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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M81 and M82

M81 and M82

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M81 and M82

M81 and M82

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

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