What It Is
M81, Bode's Galaxy, is a bright spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. It has a prominent central bulge, winding spiral arms, star-forming regions, dust lanes, and a massive black hole at its core.
History
Johann Elert Bode discovered M81 in 1774, and Charles Messier later added it to his catalog. Its brightness makes it a favorite target for binoculars and small telescopes, often viewed near the starburst galaxy M82.
Science Notes
- M81 is about 11.6 million light-years away in Ursa Major.
- NASA notes that a black hole about 70 million times the Sun's mass sits at its center.
- Its spiral arms contain young blue stars and star-forming hydrogen clouds.
- M81's central bulge is much larger than the Milky Way's bulge and contains older, redder stars.
- distance
- 11.6 million light-years
- apparentMagnitude
- 6.9
- constellation
- Ursa Major
- objectType
- Spiral galaxy
- centralBlackHole
- ~70 million solar masses
- bestObserved
- April from mid-northern latitudes
