by APOD Robot » Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:10 am
Bright Spiral Galaxy M81
Explanation: One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our
Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful
M81. This grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern constellation of the Great
Bear (
Ursa Major). This
superbly detailed view reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to
the Milky Way. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable dust lane actually runs straight through the disk, to the left of the galactic center, contrary to
M81's other prominent
spiral features. The errant
dust lane may be the lingering result of a
close encounter between M81 and its smaller companion galaxy,
M82. Scrutiny of variable stars in
M81 has yielded one of the best
determined distances for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141119.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_141119.jpg[/img] [size=150]Bright Spiral Galaxy M81[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our [url=http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galaxy.html]Milky Way[/url] Galaxy: big, beautiful [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060707.html]M81[/url]. This grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern constellation of the Great [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear]Bear[/url] ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Major]Ursa Major[/url]). This [url=http://www.astrobin.com/123777/0/?mod=solved]superbly detailed view[/url] reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to [url=http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/MW.html]the Milky Way[/url]. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable dust lane actually runs straight through the disk, to the left of the galactic center, contrary to [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130416.html]M81[/url]'s other prominent [url=http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr222/Galaxies/Spiral/spiral.html]spiral[/url] features. The errant [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010112.html]dust lane[/url] may be the lingering result of a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130925.html]close encounter[/url] between M81 and its smaller companion galaxy, [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120326.html]M82[/url]. Scrutiny of variable stars in [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-H5NBCGVtg]M81[/url] has yielded one of the best [url=http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/H0kp/m81/m81.html]determined distances[/url] for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years.
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