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| About this picture: |
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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. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas, however recent evidence indicates that this gas is being driven out by the combined emerging particle winds of many stars, together creating a galactic "superwind." The above photo highlights a specific color of red light strongly emitted by ionized hydrogen gas, showing detailed filaments of this gas. The filaments extend for over 10,000 light years. The 12-million light-year distant Cigar Galaxy is the brightest galaxy in the sky in infrared light, and can be seen in visible light with a small telescope towards the constellation of Ursa Major. Scope: 12" LX200 OTA @ f6.3 Mount: MI250 Camera: SBIG ST200XM,CFW10 Astrodon filters Guiding: SBIG AO-L at 3hz. LLRGB image, L= 27X10 min. RGB= 27X5 min. Bin 2X. Images acquired with Maximum Dl, combined with CCDStack, final processing with PS CS2 Images were taken at the Burkes Observatory on 2 nights, 4/08/08, and 04/10/08. |