| Name: | Cigar Galaxy |
|---|---|
| Designation: | M82 |
| Magnitude: | 8.4 |
| Constellation: | Ursa Major |
| Object Type: | Starburst |
| Best Viewing: | Spring |
| Distance: | 12 million LY |
| Surface Brightness: | ~21.5 mag/arcmin² |
| Viewing Difficulty: | Easy |
| Viewable By: | Binoculars / Small Scope |
| Zoom Image: | To Zoom |
| ESA Page: | To Page |
| ... Personal Entries: | |
| Observation Date: | |
| Location: | |
| Notes: | |
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Image and caption text Credit: Credit:
NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (NSF).
Brightness notes: Integrated magnitude alone is misleading for galaxies. What really matters visually is surface brightness and angular size. So to make it more meaningful, I’ve added a “Surface Brightness value in the table. Surface brightness explains why M74 is hard and M82 pops.
