Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  Bode's Galaxy  ·  Cigar Galaxy  ·  M 81  ·  M 82  ·  NGC 3031  ·  NGC 3034
M81.5 +/- 0.5, gnarayan
M81.5 +/- 0.5
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M81.5 +/- 0.5, gnarayan
M81.5 +/- 0.5
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Inevitably, the clouds have rolled in, so I only managed to get a few hours on this, Bode's Galaxy or M81. Still fun to see what you can pull out of the murk of low signal-to-noise images. The thing off to the top left is a companion - the Cigar Galaxy or M82. Gravity is collapsing clouds of gas in M82, causing a burst of star formation at the center, which in turn is driving winds that compress the surrounding gas more and create yet more stars. It's actually called a starburst galaxy!

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M81.5 +/- 0.5, gnarayan