Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 18, 1996 is “Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy Credit and Copyright: P. Challis (CfA), 1.2-m Telescope, Whipple Observatory). The original explanation runs about 96 words.

Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy
Credit: Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy Credit and Copyright: P. Challis (CfA), 1.2-m Telescope, Whipple Observatory Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Explanation : Something strange happened to this galaxy, but what? M82 is a nearby galaxy in the group of galaxies dominated by itself, M81 , and NGC 3077 .”

— APOD editors, November 18, 1996

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
November 18, 1996
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Unusual M82: The Cigar Galaxy Credit and Copyright: P. Challis (CfA), 1.2-m Telescope, Whipple Observatory
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 96 words

All of November 1996 → · 1996 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: November 18 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.