M81 & M82 - Bode’s Galaxies

One of the most challenging processing projects I have tackled, especially in order to reveal the extremely faint galactic cirrus structures present in the field, as well as to manage the photometric calibration of each channel. Images from the TelescopeNetwork dataset, acquired at the remote observatory in Pie Town, New Mexico, USA. This famous pair of galaxies is known as Bode’s Galaxies, named after the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, who described them in the 18th century. They are located in the constellation Ursa Major, about 12 million light-years from Earth, and are part of the M81 Group of galaxies. M81 is a classic grand design spiral galaxy, with well-defined spiral arms rich in star-forming regions. M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, is a starburst galaxy: an intense burst of star formation—likely triggered by gravitational interaction with M81—drives powerful flows of ionized gas emerging from the galaxy’s core in the form of filamentary jets. Within the field, extremely faint structures of galactic cirrus are also visible: delicate dust clouds belonging to our Milky Way, reflecting the integrated light of galactic stars and making this type of imaging particularly challenging.