Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a new image of the central part of the edge-on starburst galaxy Messier 82.
This Hubble image shows Messier 82, a starburst irregular galaxy located 12 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / W.D. Vacca.
Messier 82 is located about 12 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major.
First discovered by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in 1774, the galaxy is approximately 40,000 light-years across.
Messier 82 is also called the Cigar Galaxy because of the elongated elliptical shape produced by the tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight.
The galaxy is famous for its extraordinary speed in making new stars, with stars being born 10 times faster than in our Milky Way Galaxy.
“Messier 82 is home to brilliant stars whose light is shaded by sculptural clouds, clumps and streaks of dust and gas,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“It’s no surprise that the galaxy is so packed with stars, obscured though they might be by the distinctive clouds pictured here.”
“Forming stars 10 times faster than the Milky Way, the galaxy is what astronomers call a starburst galaxy.”
“The intense starburst period that grips this galaxy has given rise to super star clusters in the galaxy’s heart.”
“Each of these super star clusters contains hundreds of thousands of stars and is more luminous than a typical star cluster.”
The astronomers used Hubble to home in on these massive clusters and reveal how they form and evolve.
“This image features something not seen in previously released Hubble images of the galaxy: the data from the High Resolution Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS),” they said.
“The High Resolution Channel is one of three sub-instruments of ACS, which was installed in 2002.”
“In five years of operation, the High Resolution Channel returned fantastically detailed observations of crowded, starry environments like the centers of starburst galaxies.”
“An electronics fault in 2007 unfortunately left the High Resolution Channel disabled.”
