Cigar Galaxy

M82 Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major

Technical Details Telescope: C11 Mount: MI-250 Camera: SBIG ST-10XME Filters: Astrodon LRGB Dates: RGB December 3, 2005, Ha on Jan 5-8, 2006 Exposure: Ha=18x20min (360mins), RGB=3x5min each for 405 minutes (6.75hrs) total at -30C Notes: This irregular galaxy is about 11 million light years away.  It seems to be exploding in the center, and astronomers first believed this was from a single large explosion.  Now they think a large amount of massive stars formed in the center of the galaxy, these massive stars eventually went supernova and the many supernovas are making the large amounts hydrogen gas flow outward from the center.