NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Title:Multiwavelength M81
Description:This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility. The galaxy's angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum.
Release Date:2007/05/30
Release Credit:Hubble data: NASA, ESA, and A. Zezas (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics); GALEX data: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GALEX Team, J. Huchra et al. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics); Spitzer data: NASA/JPL/Caltech/S. Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Image Credit:Hubble data: NASA, ESA, and A. Zezas (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics); GALEX data: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GALEX Team, J. Huchra et al. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Object name:M81
Object name:NGC 3031
Object name:Bode's Galaxy
Object type:Spiral Galaxy
Position (J2000):*RA: *09h55m33.00s *Dec: *69d03m55.00s
Distance:11.6 million light-years (3.6 megaparsecs)
Constellation:Ursa Major
Wavelength:8 Microns
Wavelength:135 to 175 nanometers; Hubble filter F435W (Blue)
Image scale:This image is roughy 19 arcminutes (64,000 light-years or roughly 20 kiloparsecs) tall
Observers:Karl D. Gordon, Principal Investigator (University of Arizona) Steven P. Willner, Principal Investigator (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Almudena Alonso-Herroro (University of Arizona) Philip Appleton (SSC/Caltech) Matthew L. N. Ashby (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Pauline Barmby (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Chad Engelbracht (University of Arizona) Giovanni G. Fazio (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) David Frayer (SSC/Caltech) George Helou (SSC/Caltech) Joannah Hinz (University of Arizona) Robert Kennicutt (University of Arizona) Karl Misselt (University of Arizona) Michael A. Pahre (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Pablo Perez-Gonzalez (University of Arizona) George Rieke (University of Arizona) Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona) Susan Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) Lisa Storrie-Lombardi (SSC/Caltech) A. Zezas, G. Fabbiano, A. Prestwich, and M. Garcia (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin, Madison), J. Miller (University of Michigan), P. Kaaret (University of Iowa), V. Kalogera (Northwestern University), M. Ward (University of Durham), and A. King (University of Leicester); and proposal 10250: J. Huchra, P. Barmby, and B. Mcleod (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and J. Brodie and J. Strader (University of California, Santa Cruz).
Instrument:IRAC
Instrument:GALEX Far-UV, Hubble ACS/WFC
Exposure Date:November 6, 2003
Exposure Time:50 seconds per position
Orientation:North is rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the vertical
Related links:Spitzer IRAC view of M81 [ http://gallery.spit…] Spitzer IRAC-MIPS view of M81 [ http://gallery.spit…] Hubble view of M81 [ http://hubblesite.o…] GALEX view of M81 [ http://www.galex.ca…]
facet_what:Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what:Earth
facet_what:MIPS
facet_what:GALEX
facet_what:Ursa Major
facet_what:Explorer
facet_what:Galaxy Evolution Explorer
facet_what:Moon
facet_what:Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_what:Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_where:California
facet_where:Madison
facet_where:Wisconsin
facet_where:Arizona
facet_where:M82
facet_where:Michigan
facet_where:M81
facet_where:NGC 3077
facet_where:NGC 3031
facet_where:Bode's Galaxy
facet_where:Chad
facet_where:Iowa
facet_where:Santa Cruz
facet_where:Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:Washington, D.C.
facet_where:Stennis Space Center (SSC)
facet_when:November 6, 2003
facet_when_year:2003
Image #:sig07-009
original url:http://sscws1.ipac.…
UID:SPD-SPITZ-sig07-009
Image ID:168545
Resolution Size:6
Format:JP2
Media Type:Image
File Name:sig07-009_mac.jp2
Width:3180
Height:2456