Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  Bode's Galaxy  ·  M 81  ·  NGC 3031
Bode's Galaxy M81, starpaul
Bode's Galaxy M81
Powered byPixInsight

Bode's Galaxy M81

Bode's Galaxy M81, starpaul
Bode's Galaxy M81
Powered byPixInsight

Bode's Galaxy M81

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

12 million light years away and 90,000 light years across, this grand design spiral galaxy has a supermassive 70 million solar mass black hole at its nucleus.  It was discovered on New Year's Eve 1774 by Johann Elert Bode and was originally classified as a nebula (and not a comet in the Messier Catalog).  It holds over 250 billion stars and is the most remote large galaxy known to be moving toward us based on its blueshift.  It is about 1/2 the size of a full moon in the night sky and can be found by looking along the diagonal of the cup of the Big Dipper from the bottom back corner to the top front corner of the cup about one more length of this diagonal.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Bode's Galaxy M81, starpaul