🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Messier 81 πŸͺ

Messier 81


One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81. Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th century discoverer, this grand spiral can be found toward the northern constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The sharp, detailed telescopic view reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, pinkish starforming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes. But some dust lanes actually run through the galactic disk (left of center), contrary to other prominent spiral features. The errant dust lanes may be the lingering result of a close encounter between M81 and the nearby galaxy M82 lurking outside of this frame. Scrutiny of variable stars in M81 has yielded a well-determined distance for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years.


HD image: LINK πŸ›Έ

Copyright: Lorand Fenyes πŸ”­

Project Website: LINK πŸš€



πŸ‘¨β€πŸš€ How many people are in space right now? πŸ‘©β€πŸš€

12

NameCraft
Oleg KononenkoISS
Nikolai ChubISS
Tracy Caldwell DysonISS
Matthew DominickISS
Michael BarrattISS
Jeanette EppsISS
Alexander GrebenkinISS
Butch WilmoreISS
Sunita WilliamsISS
Li GuangsuTiangong
Li CongTiangong
Ye GuangfuTiangong


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1
11.309 STEM

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