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The Heart of the Galaxy M82 in Visible Light
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.09h 55m 52.18s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.69° 40' 48.79"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Ursa Major
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.About 3.6 Mpc (12 million light-years)
About the Data
- InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST> WFPC2
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.September 15, 1997
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.The release image of M82 was created from WFPC2 archived HST data from the following science Proposals: 7446 (WFPC2/NICMOS observations): R. O'Connell (Univ. Virginia). Principal Astronomers: R. de Grijs (Inst. of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK), R. O'Connell (Univ. Virginia), J. Gallagher (Univ. Wisc-Madison), D. Hunter (Lowell Obs.) 6826: P. Shopbell (Cal Tech). Principal Astronomers: P. Shopbell (Cal Tech), R. Dufour (Rice Univ.), J. Cohen (Cal Tech), J. Bland-Hawthorn (AAO)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.M82, NGC 3034
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Irregular Galaxy
- Release DateMarch 7, 2001
- Science ReleaseHubble Spies Huge Clusters of Stars Formed by Ancient Encounter
- Credit
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Blue: 428 nm Green: 520 nm Red: 820 nm
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Details
Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
