This image features two magnificent galaxies located about 12 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. M81, at bottom, is a grand design spiral galaxy, while M82 at top is an irregular starburst galaxy. Scientists believe that these two galaxies are interacting gravitationally.  I was hoping to see some evidence of that through the intervening dust clouds, but it is not obvious to me in this image.

At a diameter of 92,000 light years, M81 is slightly smaller in size than our Milky Way. Its disk is inclined to us at 60 degrees. Surprisingly to me, this angle is slightly more edge-on (90 degrees) than face-on (0 degrees). I like the numerous pinkish Ha regions and bluish star clusters. These indicate ongoing star formation which likely was initiated by the interaction with M82. This galaxy was first discovered by Johann Bode in 1774 and is sometimes referred to as "Bode's Galaxy", one of the few galaxies named after an individual. I like the detailed dark dust lanes above and right of the core.

Seen just left of M81 is the dwarf irregular blue galaxy Holmberg IX, also known as PGC 28757. This galaxy is a satellite galaxy of M81. A 2006 paper by Sabbi et al described this galaxy as the nearest young galaxy to us, with an age of 200 million years.

M82 has a fascinating, irregular, distorted disk due to the interaction of its larger neighbor. It is half the size of M81. Our view of this galaxy is almost edge-on, at an inclination angle of 77 degrees. It is also known as Arp 337. The structure of this galaxy is so unusual that Dr. Halton Arp couldn't classify it, and it fell into the last category of the catalog called "Miscellaneous". It is called a starburst galaxy because it is undergoing a burst of new star formation. Through powerful winds from massive emerging stars, this burst of star formation in M82 is driving a huge outflow of reddish hydrogen gas from its galaxy core unlike that of any other galaxy. I like the dark lanes of dust running in strange patterns around the core of this unique galaxy.  We are fortunate to be so close to such an amazing object.

Another interesting galaxy in the frame is NGC 3077, at the lower left.  This object is an irregular galaxy located about the same distance away as the other 2 large galaxies. 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. Although a fairly obscure object, it the same size and brightness as M89.  I like the faint Ha regions and dust lanes of this object.  A slightly more detailed image is seen here.