A very popular northern hemisphere astrophotography target, M82 is a starburst galaxy located only 12 million light years away in Ursa Major. The galaxy is five times more luminous than our own Milky Way and has an extremely bright center.
The Galaxy was previously classified as an irregular galaxy and an exploding galaxy.
In fact recent infrared images show two spiral arms confirming that it is indeed an edge on spiral galaxy.
Imaged in LRGB and H alpha at SRO, OTA CDK 14.
Image Processing: Mike Selby