Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  NGC 3077
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NGC 3077, Gary Imm
NGC 3077, Gary Imm

NGC 3077

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NGC 3077, Gary Imm
NGC 3077, Gary Imm

NGC 3077

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Description

This object is an irregular galaxy located only 12 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major at a declination of +69 degrees. This magnitude 10 galaxy, with a surface brightness of 13, spans 6 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a small diameter of 20,000 light years. This galaxy lies close to M81 and M82, making it a nice triplet for a wider field of view. Although a fairly obscure object, it the same size and brightness as M89.

Despite the dust that shrouds this area of the sky, many interesting details can be seen. The highlight of this object for me is the interplay of Ha regions, irregular dust lanes, and faint bright star clusters in and around the core. The Ha appears in to be strongest in a looping band around the edge of the core. This is likely indicative of a strong star forming region.

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