M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind

Why is the Cigar Galaxy billowing red smoke?

M82, as this starburst 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 and dust, however. Evidence indicates that this gas and dust is being driven out by the combined emerging particle winds of many stars, together creating a galactic superwind. The dust particles are thought to originate in M82’s interstellar medium and are actually similar in size to particles in cigar smoke.

The featured photographic mosaic highlights a specific color of red light strongly emitted by ionized hydrogen gas, showing detailed filaments of this gas and dust. 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 astronomy light, and can be seen in visible light with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Ursa Major.

APOD in other languages: Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Beijing), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Farsi, French, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Montenegrin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish and Ukrainian. This is an example of Astrophotography, demonstrating Astronomical Wonders from Deep Space and Distant Worlds. The Cosmic Dust gives the Cigar Galaxy its unique appearance.