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Messier 82

Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience

A stunning view of the starburst galaxy Messier 82, showing bright blue star clusters and glowing gas clouds captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Messier 82, also called the Cigar Galaxy, is a bright galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is one of the closest starburst galaxies, where new stars are being born very quickly. This fast star formation is thought to be caused by its neighbor galaxy, M81, pulling on it with gravity.

Because it is close and bright, Messier 82 has been studied a lot by astronomers. In January 2014, a Type Ia supernova named SN 2014J was found there. This gave scientists a rare chance to watch such an event up close. Scientists have also found powerful objects in Messier 82, including the brightest pulsar known and, in November 2023, the first gamma-ray burst from a magnetar seen outside our own Milky Way galaxy. These discoveries help us learn about the exciting processes in active galaxies.

Discovery

M82 was found by Johann Elert Bode in 1774. He saw it as a faint, blurry spot that was stretched out. In 1779, Pierre Méchain saw M82 again and told Charles Messier. Messier then added it to his list of objects.

Structure

Messier 82, also called M82, was once thought to be an irregular galaxy. In 2005, two spiral arms were found in near-infrared pictures. These arms were hidden before because of the galaxy’s bright disk and dusty parts.

The center of M82 is where new stars are forming very quickly. In 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope found many young groups of stars there. The galaxy also has a supermassive black hole at its center. In 2010, astronomers saw something unusual sending out radio waves, and scientists are still learning more about it.

Starbursts

Messier 82, also called M82, is influenced by its larger neighbor, the spiral M81. The pull of gravity has changed the shape of M82, starting about 100 million years ago. This has caused lots of new stars to form, about ten times more than in normal galaxies.

M82 and M81 have come close to each other before, sending gas into M82's center. The last time this happened was about 200 million to 500 million years ago, causing a big burst of new stars. This burst lasted for about 50 million years. After that, two more bursts of star formation happened, with the last one ending about 4 million to 6 million years ago. The stars in M82’s disk formed in a burst about 500 million years ago and stopped forming about 100 million years ago, except for a small amount in its outer areas.

Supernovae

Messier 82 is a galaxy where many bright stars are born and sometimes explode. These explosions happen when very large stars reach the end of their lives.

The first time scientists saw a supernova in this galaxy was in 2004, called SN 2004am. Another possible supernova was spotted in 2008, but it was hard to see because of thick dust in the galaxy.

In January 2014, a very bright supernova named SN 2014J was discovered. It became bright enough that people with telescopes could see it. This was a special kind of supernova called a Type Ia.

Main article: SN 2014J

Images

A colorful view of the galaxy Messier 82, showing stars and gas clouds in vibrant blues, reds, and yellows captured by NASA telescopes.
A colorful image showing the magnetic field and starlight of the Cigar Galaxy, a distant galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major.
A stunning view of the starburst galaxy Messier 82, showing its bright core and starry disc as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope.
A stunning view from the Hubble Space Telescope showing a bright new supernova—an exploding star—in the distant galaxy Messier 82. Astronomers use these cosmic events to measure distances in space!
Astronomers observed a bright explosion of stars, called a supernova, in the galaxy M 82 in January 2014.
A beautiful view of the Messier 82 galaxy showing bright areas where new stars are being born.
A stunning view of the galaxy Messier 82, showcasing its starry structure and cosmic beauty.
A beautiful view of the M82 Cigar Galaxy, showing its glowing hydrogen emissions in space.
Portrait of Charles Messier, the famous astronomer who cataloged celestial objects.
A colorful view of the galaxy Messier 82, showing areas where new stars are forming and bright spots from energetic objects containing black holes.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Messier 82, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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