{"id":206,"date":"2019-05-10T22:40:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T22:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/?p=206"},"modified":"2024-12-07T23:47:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T23:47:11","slug":"bodes-galaxy-m81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/bodes-galaxy-m81\/","title":{"rendered":"Bode&#8217;s Galaxy (M81)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Bode&#8217;s Galaxy (Messier 81 or M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82 or M82) are two striking galaxies located in the constellation <strong>Ursa Major<\/strong>, about 12 million light-years away. They are often observed together as they are gravitationally interacting and provide a stunning pair for astronomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bode&#8217;s Galaxy (M81)<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Type<\/strong>: Grand design spiral galaxy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Appearance<\/strong>: Features bright, well-defined spiral arms and a prominent central bulge. The galaxy&#8217;s golden core contrasts beautifully with its bluish spiral arms, making it an iconic spiral galaxy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Interesting Fact<\/strong>: Its structure resembles a classic spiral galaxy, and it is often studied to understand galaxy formation and evolution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cigar Galaxy (M82)<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Type<\/strong>: Starburst galaxy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Appearance<\/strong>: Elongated shape due to its edge-on orientation from Earth. It shows reddish hues from massive star-forming regions and filament-like features of superheated gas being ejected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Interesting Fact<\/strong>: The starburst activity is triggered by its gravitational interactions with Bode&#8217;s Galaxy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Observation Context<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>During lockdown, reduced air pollution and light pollution in urban areas like Bristol made the skies clearer for astrophotography and stargazing. Observing these galaxies from Bristol would have required:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Equipment<\/strong>: A telescope with a decent aperture (e.g., 8-10 inches) and a camera capable of long exposures to capture the faint details.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Techniques<\/strong>: Stacking multiple long-exposure images to reduce noise and enhance faint structures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lockdown Advantage<\/strong>: Limited vehicle and industrial activity meant less interference from light pollution, allowing these distant galaxies to stand out more clearly.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"928\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-928x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-928x1024.jpg 928w, https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-272x300.jpg 272w, https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-768x848.jpg 768w, https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-1392x1536.jpg 1392w, https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3-600x662.jpg 600w, https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bodes-and-Cigar-Galaxies-3.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bode&#8217;s Galaxy (Messier 81 or M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82 or M82) are two striking galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major, about 12 million light-years away. They are often observed together as they are gravitationally interacting and provide a stunning pair for astronomers. Bode&#8217;s Galaxy (M81): Cigar Galaxy (M82): Observation Context: During&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlsbridge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}