![]() Dubhe is the star that marks the northwest corner of the Big Dipper‘s bowl. Messier 81 can be found about 10 degrees northwest of the bright star Dubhe, Alpha Ursae Majoris. The hot, young blue stars heat the dust, increasing the level of emissions in the infrared. The dust is associated with starburst regions. Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.īode’s Galaxy’s infrared emissions mostly come from the interstellar dust found within its spiral arms. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Spitzer data: NASA/JPL/Caltech/S. Zezas (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) GALEX data: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GALEX Team, J. The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum. The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). ![]() The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The galaxy’s angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of unaided-eye visibility. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a “birds-eye view” of the spiral structure.
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