Credit & Copyright: Daniel Yang K.
Explanation:
From a garden on planet Earth, 38 hours of exposure
with a camera and small telescope produced
this cosmic
photo
of the M81 galaxy group.
In fact, the group's dominant galaxy M81 is near the
center of the frame sporting grand spiral arms and
a bright yellow core.
Also known as Bode's galaxy, M81 itself spans some 100,000
light-years.
Near the top is cigar-shaped
irregular galaxy M82.
The pair have been locked in gravitational combat for a billion years.
Gravity
from each galaxy has profoundly affected the other during
a series of cosmic close encounters.
Their last go-round lasted about 100 million years and
likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in massive
star forming regions arrayed along
M81's spiral arms.
M82
was left with violent star forming regions too, and
colliding gas clouds so energetic that the galaxy
glows in X-rays.
In the next few billion years, their
continuing gravitational encounters will result in a merger, and a
single
galaxy will remain.
Another group member, NGC 3077 is below and left of the
large spiral M81.
Far far away, about 12 million light-years distant
the M81 group galaxies are seen
toward the northern constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).
But in the closer foreground
the wide-field image is filled with integrated flux nebulae
whose faint, dusty interstellar clouds
reflect starlight above the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
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Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
M 81 - gruppa M 81 - M 82
Publikacii so slovami: M 81 - gruppa M 81 - M 82 | |
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