Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  Cigar Galaxy  ·  M 82  ·  NGC 3034
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M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy, Chris Plonski
M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy
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M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy

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M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy, Chris Plonski
M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy
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M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy

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M82 is also known as the Cigar Galaxy due to its shape. It's located in Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) about 12 million light away and about 37,000 light years across. It is also called a starburst galaxy because at its core, the rate of star formation is 10 times that of the entire Milky Way, so it's literally bursting with stars. This is mainly due to the gravitational interaction with its familiar close neighbor, M81. The ionized hydrogen gas glowing red is blown into intergalactic space due to intense galactic "winds" and strong magnetic flux lines that flow across the axis of the core. It is said to be the brightest galaxy in the infrared spectrum.

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M82, The Cigar Galaxy, Starburst Galaxy, Chris Plonski

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