How far away is Messier 82 from Earth?

11.42 million light yearsMessier 82 / Distance to Earth

Located 12 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, M82 has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and is best observed in April. Although it is visible as a patch of light with binoculars in the same field of view as M81, larger telescopes are needed in order to resolve the galaxy’s core.

What kind of galaxy is Messier 82?

Cigar Galaxy
Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous.

What does Messier 81 look like?

Due to its proximity to our galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M ☉ supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers….

Messier 81
Apparent magnitude (V) 6.94
Characteristics
Type SA(s)ab, LINER
Apparent size (V) 26.9 × 14.1 moa

Does Messier 82 have a black hole?

Black Holes Do Come in Medium Sizes. An image of the galaxy Messier 82 compiling data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope. The intermediate-mass black hole M82 X-1 is the brightest object in the inset, at about 2 o’clock near the galaxy’s center.

What happened to M81 and M82?

Their last go-round lasted about 100 million years and likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81’s spiral arms. M82 was left with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays.

Is Messier 82 an irregular galaxy?

Messier 82 (M82, NGC 3034) is a remarkable galaxy of peculiar type in constellation Ursa Major. It is usually classified as irregular, though probably a distorted disk galaxy, and famous for its heavy star-forming activity, thus a prototype member of the class of starbursting galaxies.

How many stars are in the Messier 82 galaxy?

30 billionMessier 82 / Stars
At a distance of 11.5 million light-years this corresponds to an actual diameter of 38,000 light-years, although it’s less than half the diameter of M81 (90,000 light-years). Together, the pair form a popular visual and imaging target for amateur astronomers. M82 is believed to contain at least 30 billion stars.

Why is M82 called the Cigar Galaxy?

Located 12 million light-years away, M82 appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is also called the ‘Cigar Galaxy’ because of the elongated elliptical shape produced by the tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight.

What type of galaxy is M65?

spiral galaxy
M65 is a spiral galaxy with an apparent magnitude of 10.3. Charles Messier discovered it and its neighbor M66 on the same night in 1780. Located roughly 35 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, M65 is a member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies.

Why is Messier 82 called the Cigar Galaxy?

Located 12 million light-years away, M82 appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is also called the “Cigar Galaxy” because of the elliptical shape produced by the oblique tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight.

Where is Messier located in the sky?

Messier 54 (NGC 6715) is a globular cluster with an apparent magnitude of 8.5. It is located in Sagittarius constellation, about 83,000 light years from Earth.

Where is Messier 81 located?

RA 9h 55m 33s | Dec +69° 3′ 55″Messier 81 / Coordinates