Galaxy · Far beyond

Bode's Galaxy

Spiral galaxy, M81

From the Sun

11.8 million light-years

Bode's GalaxyOpen in 3D
Picture: N.A.Sharp/NOIRLab/ NSF /AURA/

What it is

A grand spiral whose pull is stirring up its neighbour, the Cigar Galaxy.

The picture hangs at that distance facing Earth, as large as it is on the sky; how deep the object is cannot be seen, so it is flat.

The picture

Taken by
NOIRLab
Picture spans
about 80,000 ly
From the Sun
11.8 million light-years
RA / Dec
148.75° / 68.92°

Messier 81

Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years).

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA · Read the article

Far beyond