Two Galaxies: M81 and M82

Lying Near the Big Dipper

Best time to observe: February - September

To locate:

You'll need a dark sky, without light pollution. First, find the Big Dipper in the North, and also the North Star. Look for the 4 stars in the Dipper's bowl. Imagine the Dipper right side up, if it is not. Now, draw a diagonal line from the bottom bowl star on the left to the top bowl star on the right. Follow this line, going out the same distance as the line is long. From that point, move the Telrad a tiny bit toward the North Star. You won't see the galaxies in the Telrad because they are too faint. Look through the telescope, using the low power eyepiece, and slowly scan the sky around that area until you see 2 wispy smudges. When you get them located, they will both be visible in the telescope at once.

What to notice:

The two galaxies look like 2 fuzzy smudges of light. One will have a slightly oval shape -- that's M81. The other is long and thin, like a lumpy pencil; it's M82. By centering the telescope between the two, and directing your vision in the center, you'll be viewing each with averted, or peripheral, vision, allowing the sensitive part of your eye to pick up the light.

What you are looking at:

Both these galaxies are 7 or 8 million light years from us, or about 70-80 times as far from us as our galaxy is wide. M81, the oval smudge, is a spiral galaxy a little less than half the size of our Milky Way. The fuzzy haze you see is only the central core -- it takes a much larger telescope to see the spiral arms and structure. This galaxy became famous in March 1993 when a new supernova was observed in it. A supernova is a massive star which has exploded at the end of its lifetime. The explosion was so big that the supernova outshone all the other billions of stars in M81 put together! People on Earth were able to see it in telescopes not much bigger than yours.

M82, with its funny abnormal shape, has long been a mystery. Astronomers think some astoundingly enormous explosion ripped its nucleus (center) apart, sending shock waves through the galaxy, distorting its shape. The explosion must have been much, much larger than any supernova. What could it have been? This is probably the strangest galaxy you can see with your telescope.

Sketch the 2 galaxies M81 & M82 on your observing pages.

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