M81 versus M82
Here in the Milky Way
galaxy we have astronomical front row seats as M81 and M82 face-off, a mere 12
million light-years away. Locked in a gravitational struggle for the past
billion years or so, the two bright galaxies are captured in this deep telescopic
snapshot, constructed from 25 hours of image data.
Their most recent close
encounter likely resulted in the enhanced spiral arms of M81 (left)
and violent star forming regions in M82 so energetic the
galaxy glows
in X-rays.
After repeated passes,
in a few billion years only one galaxy will remain. From our
perspective, this cosmic moment is seen through a foreground veil of the Milky
Way's stars and clouds of dust.
Faintly reflecting the
foreground starlight, the pervasive dust clouds are relatively unexplored
galactic cirrus, or integrated flux nebulae,
only a few hundred light-years above the plane of the Milky Way.
