Irregular Starburst Galaxy M82 in Ursa Major | Subaru Telescope

Irregular Starburst Galaxy M82 in Ursa Major | Subaru Telescope

This image captures the irregular galaxy Messier 82 (M82) in the constellation Ursa Major with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). The bluish-white region extending toward the upper right traces the galaxy’s disk, while the filamentary structures stretching toward the upper left and lower right are “galactic winds,” streams of hot gas flowing outward.

Although the gas in these winds emits red H-alpha light, it appears green here because the default RGB color composite used in HSC images is green. The galaxy’s central region, where star formation is occurring at an exceptionally high rate, is heavily obscured by dust and cannot be seen in visible light. On the left side of the image, a faint, stream-like arrangement of blue stars is visible. Could these stars have formed within the galactic wind?

This image is a color composite created from the g (green, 470 nanometers), r (red, 630 nanometers), and i (infrared, 760 nanometers) bands. As the default RGB color composite used in many HSC images, the g, r, and i bands are displayed in blue, green, and red, respectively. 

Distance from Earth: 12 million light-years

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Image Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Release Date: April 26, 2026

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