M82 Imaged by John Catlyn

John Catlyn — By pcburns on August 17, 2009 at 10:45 am

M82 (also known as NGC 3034) is an iregular galaxy in the constellation of Ursa major – though classified as irregular, though probably a distorted disk galaxy. The M81group of galaxies is one of the nearest to our Local Group, being only some 12 million light-years distant.

M82 is under the gravitational influence of its its larger neighbour M81. Tidal forces caused by gravity are deforming this galaxy, a process that started about 100 million years ago. These tidal forces have caused starburst activity in M82 – star formation has to increase 10 fold compared with “normal” galaxies.

Lookup M82 on SEDS