Bode’s Galaxy (M81)

Bode’s Galaxy (M81) — galaxy, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Bode’s Galaxy (M81) in an interactive 3D view of space. See its catalogue position, distance and astronomical facts.

A textbook spiral whose tidy arms were combed into shape by a close pass with its starburst neighbour M82 — the two still tug at each other across a bridge of hydrogen.

Type

Grand-design spiral (SA(s)ab)

Distance

11.8 million light-years

Group

Centre of the M81 Group

Note

Locked in a gravitational dance with M82

Shown here

Representative stars, sampled from its measured light and labelled as such: no survey resolves its stars across the disc

Glow & dust

Old stars: a 3D bulge and disc fitted to WISE infrared; young stars from GALEX; Herschel dust; star-forming knots from WISE

Depth

Disc tilted 59° (measured); its thickness and depth are modelled

Explore Bode’s Galaxy (M81) in 3D

Bode’s Galaxy (M81) is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.