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M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind

Explanation: Also known as the Cigar Galaxy for its elongated visual appearance, M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a prodigious outflow of material. Evidence for the superwind from the galaxy's central regions is clear in this sharp telescopic snapshot. The composite image highlights emission from long outflow filaments of atomic hydrogen gas in reddish hues. Some of the gas in the superwind, enriched in heavy elements forged in the massive stars, will eventually escape into intergalactic space. Including narrow band image data in the deep exposure has revealed a faint feature dubbed the cap. Perched about 35,000 light-years above the galaxy at the upper left, the cap appears to be galactic halo material ionized by the superwind shock or intense ultraviolet radiation from the young, massive stars in the galaxy's core. Triggered by a close encounter with nearby large galaxy M81, the furious burst of star formation in M82 should last about 100 million years or so. M82 is 12 million light-years distant, near the northern boundary of Ursa Major.

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So all that red stuff is hydrogen. I hope nobody tries to light that cigar

M 82 is a galaxy of great activity

Looks like its blowing out before it all collapses back in to a SMBH!

This is an extremely excellent amateur image of a galaxy! Besides the Ha outflow, there is also a small inner blue filament structure near the southern plume. Also the cap at the top was discovered fairly recently in 1999!

Awesome shot. In the top (our left side), there is a face of a sad woman, to her left, (our right), is a gargoyle, or a Raven, looking over her shoulder...in the bottom there is a "demon" face, and body that is "holding" up the galaxy, like Atlas....keeping it from falling apart????

Really good detail, I could not tell it was an amateur photo. Really Great Job!

I guess, when the star burst activity dies down, and the super winds die down, all that hydrogen falls back into the galaxy, and over time starts up new stars...hope there is someone around to see it...

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starsurfer wrote:This is an extremely excellent amateur image of a galaxy! Besides the Ha outflow, there is also a small inner blue filament structure near the southern plume. Also the cap at the top was discovered fairly recently in 1999!

Thanks so much for the kind words! I wanted to make the blue filament pop a bit better but the strong Ha signal overlaid it so I had to make a processing decision. I decided to keep it pushed back so thanks for noticing it

Kindest Regards,

No wonder i couldn't find the blue cap. Where is it? I can't tell by the description.

Beyond wrote:No wonder i couldn't find the blue cap. Where is it? I can't tell by the description.

It's not blue. It's the detached arc of red near the upper left of the image.

Very nice image Ken Crawford.

geckzilla wrote:

Beyond wrote:No wonder i couldn't find the blue cap. Where is it? I can't tell by the description.

It's not blue. It's the detached arc of red near the upper left of the image.

Ahh, just like the Great Blue Heron is grey, the blue cap is red. Why the heck don't people just call things as they are

Astronomers do pretty much call things as they are. I don't know where you saw the word blue.

geckzilla wrote:Astronomers do pretty much call things as they are. I don't know where you saw the word blue.

From my post mentioning the "blue filament near the southern plume". Admittedly it doesn't look totally blue in Ken's image (as he explained in a previous post). However it stands out too much in this image by Adam Block: http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/m82.shtml

Ken Crawford wrote:

starsurfer wrote:This is an extremely excellent amateur image of a galaxy! Besides the Ha outflow, there is also a small inner blue filament structure near the southern plume. Also the cap at the top was discovered fairly recently in 1999!

Thanks so much for the kind words! I wanted to make the blue filament pop a bit better but the strong Ha signal overlaid it so I had to make a processing decision. I decided to keep it pushed back so thanks for noticing it

Kindest Regards,

I would love to see images of obscure things from other catalogues that aren't Messier or NGC. I really love your images of planetary nebulae, plenty to choose from during the summer and autumn months!

starsurfer wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Astronomers do pretty much call things as they are. I don't know where you saw the word blue.

From my post mentioning the "blue filament near the southern plume". Admittedly it doesn't look totally blue in Ken's image (as he explained in a previous post). However it stands out too much in this image by Adam Block: http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/m82.shtml

Too much ha-ha, i can hardly see it. It's a mighty thin cap, but it is blue.

Oh, you are confusing the filament with the cap, I think. Someone correct me if I am wrong:

AHA See that? A labeled picture is worth more than 1000 words, for us astronomical dummies ... gecko to the rescue!

Is the "Blue Filament" a Shock Bow of some type??? If not then what is it?

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Nice Red White and Blue photo for the 4th. Thanks.

Boomer12k wrote:Is the "Blue Filament" a Shock Bow of some type??? If not then what is it?

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There seem to be at least three such filaments.

Ken Crawford wrote:

starsurfer wrote:This is an extremely excellent amateur image of a galaxy! Besides the Ha outflow, there is also a small inner blue filament structure near the southern plume. Also the cap at the top was discovered fairly recently in 1999!

Thanks so much for the kind words! I wanted to make the blue filament pop a bit better but the strong Ha signal overlaid it so I had to make a processing decision. I decided to keep it pushed back so thanks for noticing it

Kindest Regards,

This is a lovely image that gives a new perspective on a familiar object. The next time I'm looking at M82 through a telescope, I'll imagine those clouds of glowing hydrogen ... .