Cigar Galaxy (M82)

Cigar Galaxy (M82) — galaxy, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Cigar Galaxy (M82) in an interactive 3D view of space. See its catalogue position, distance and astronomical facts.

The sky’s archetypal starburst galaxy — its core, shocked by M81’s gravity, is birthing stars so furiously that superwinds of glowing hydrogen erupt thousands of light-years out of its disc.

Type

Edge-on starburst (irregular)

Distance

11.8 million light-years

Forming stars

10× faster than the whole Milky Way

Note

Red plumes of gas blasting from its core

Explore Cigar Galaxy (M82) in 3D

Cigar Galaxy (M82) 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.