Date: 24 Apr 2006
Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
Depicts: Messier 82, M 82, Cigar Galaxy
Copyright: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (NSF).

Close-up of some of the most interesting parts of the Hubble Space Telescope image of the active galaxy Messier 82 (M82).

Left: A portion of M82's bluish disk, largely composed of hot young stars. Numerous bright blue-white star-forming clumps and wisps of darker, cooler dust and gas appear superimposed on the disk.

Centre: The central portion of the galaxy shows the combined light of countless stars and reveals numerous star-forming clumps, dark red clouds of gas and dust obscuring the light from the galaxy's core, and an overall field of fainter red (cooler) and blue (hotter) stars.