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M82:
Starburst Galaxy With Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources
This Chandra image is colorized to
highlight a population of point-like "ultraluminous"
X-ray sources in M82, a starburst galaxy 11 million
light years from Earth. In the image, red
represents the low energy band, green intermediate, and
blue the highest observed energies. The white and
yellow sources are those that emit significant amounts
of both low- and high-energy X-rays. The ultraluminous
sources, which emit ten to several hundred times more
X-ray power than similar sources in our Galaxy, are
believed to be either massive black holes, or black
holes that are beaming energy toward Earth. The
brightest point-like source, located near the center of
the image, is the most powerful ultraluminous source
detected in any galaxy to date.
Observations of M82 and other starburst galaxies
suggest that the origin of ultraluminous sources is
related to a burst of star formation triggered by a
collision with another galaxy. Astronomers suspect that
M82 had a close encounter with a large galaxy, M81 in
the last 100 million years.
The diffuse red cloud in the image is caused by
multi-million degree gas flowing out of the central
region of M82.
| Fast Facts for M82: |
| Credit |
NASA/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al. |
| Scale |
Image is 5 arcmin on a side. |
| Category |
Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies |
| Coordinates (J2000) |
RA 09h 55m 50.70s | Dec +69° 40' 37 |
| Constellation |
Ursa Major |
| Observation Dates |
September 20, 1999
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| Observation Time |
13 hours |
| Obs. IDs |
1302, 361
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| Color Code |
Red = low energy, green intermediate, and blue high-energy X-rays. White and yellow sources emit both low- and high-energy X-rays |
| Instrument |
ACIS |
| Also Known As | Cigar Galaxy |
| Distance Estimate |
11 - 13 million light years |
| Release Date |
June 05, 2001 |
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