The Bode galaxy, also known as Spiral Galaxy M81 or NGC 3031, is a spiral galaxy located 12 million light years in the constellation Ursa Major.
The Bode galaxy is presumed to contain approximately 250 billion stars, being slightly smaller than the Milky Way. The galaxy is one of the best examples of spiral design in a galaxy, with nearly perfect arms spiraling toward its center. The Bode galaxy and the Cigar galaxy, or M82, are among the most prominent members of the M81 Group.
A few tens of millions of years ago, which is recent on the cosmic time scale, a close encounter occurred between galaxies M81 and M82. During this event, the larger and more massive M81 dramatically deformed M82 by gravitational interaction. The encounter has also left traces on the spiral pattern of the larger, brighter galaxy M81, first making it more pronounced overall, and second in the shape of the dark linear feature at the bottom left of the nuclear region. The galaxies are still very close together and their centers are separated by a linear distance of only about 150,000 light years.
Throughout the field shown you can see the IFN (integral flux nebula), clouds of dust illuminated by the integrated light of all the stars in the galaxy.
Technical data of the acquisition:
Baader Blue (CMOS-Optimized) 36 mm: 20×300,″(1h 40′)
Baader Green (CMOS-Optimized) 36 mm: 20×300,″(1h 40′)
Baader H-alpha 6.5nm (CMOS-Optimized) 36 mm: 20×900,″(5h)
Baader Red (CMOS-Optimized) 36 mm: 20×300,″(1h 40′)
Baader UV/IR CUT Luminance (CMOS Optimized) 36 mm: 28×300,″(2h 20′)
Time integration:
12h 20′