Bodes Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy
Mar 1, 2021
Bodes Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy
| Other names | M81, NGC 3031, UGC 5318 |
| Type | Galaxies |
| Distance | 11.7 million ly |
| Size | 90,000 ly |
| Location | Ursa Major |
| Captured | Mar 1, 2021 |
| Capture type | Broadband |
| Total time | ~4.6 hours |
| Frames | L 50x120', RGB 30x120' each |
| Telescope | Orion 6" Newt F/3.8 Astrograph |
| Camera | ZWO ASI294mm |
| Tripod | Orion Atlas EQ-G |
Bodes Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy
This is a two for one! The bottom galaxy is Bode’s galaxy, also known as M81. The top galaxy is the Cigar galaxy and is also known as M82!
Bode’s galaxy is about 12 million light years away and is around 90,000 light years across. It was first discovered by astronomer Johann Elert Bode in 1774, hence it’s name. Maybe one of these days I’ll have a galaxy named after myself.
The Cigar Galaxy isn’t your standard spiral galaxy, it’s classified as a “starburst galaxy” meaning that it is undergoing an extreme period of star formation. Normally this happens only near the birth of a galaxy, but in this case, the two galaxies are so close together that the gravity of the larger, Bode’s galaxy, is pushing and pulling on its gasses making it form new stars. It is the closest galaxy of its type to us. My what a view.