Irregular galaxy M82 in Ursa Major

by: Nasa/Esa/Hubble heritage team/Novapix
Reference: a-gax30-34006
Date: 2006-09-09

Located 12 million light-years away, M82 appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is also called the "Cigar Galaxy" because of the elliptical shape produced by the oblique tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight. This image is a six-image composite mosaic obtained with the Hubble space telescope in March 2006.

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