Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 19, 2010 is “M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind,” an image. It is credited to Credit: NASA , ESA , The Hubble Heritage Team, ( STScI / AURA ) Acknowledgement: M. Mountain ( STScI ), P. Puxley ( NSF ), J. Gallagher ( U. Wisconsin ). The original explanation runs about 156 words.

M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
Credit: NASA , ESA , The Hubble Heritage Team, ( STScI / AURA ) Acknowledgement: M. Mountain ( STScI ), P. Puxley ( NSF ), J. Gallagher ( U. Wisconsin ) Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What’s lighting up the Cigar Galaxy? M82 , as this irregular galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81 .”

— APOD editors, December 19, 2010

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 19, 2010
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: NASA , ESA , The Hubble Heritage Team, ( STScI / AURA ) Acknowledgement: M. Mountain ( STScI ), P. Puxley ( NSF ), J. Gallagher ( U. Wisconsin )
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 156 words

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Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 19 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.