Messier 82

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is about five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way and one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's center. The starburst activity is thought to be triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81, and M82 is a member of the M81 Group. As the closest starburst galaxy to our own, M82 is the prototypical example of this type of galaxy.SN 2014J, a Type Ia supernova, was observed in the galaxy on 21 January 2014.

In 2014, in studying M82, scientists discovered the brightest pulsar yet known, designated M82 X-2.

In 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope revealed 197 young massive clusters in the starburst core. The average mass of these clusters is around 200,000 solar masses, hence the starburst core is a very energetic and high-density environment. Throughout the galaxy's center, young stars are being born 10 times faster than they are inside our entire Milky Way Galaxy.

Messier 81 Interaction
Forming a striking pair in small telescopes with nearby spiral M81, M82 is being physically affected by its larger neighbor. Tidal forces caused by gravity have deformed this galaxy, a process that started about 100 million years ago. This interaction has caused star formation to increase tenfold compared to "normal" galaxies. Recently, M82 has undergone at least one tidal encounter with M81 resulting in a large amount of gas being funneled into the galaxy's core over the last 200 Myr.The most recent such encounter is thought to have happened around 2–5×108 years ago and resulted in a concentrated starburst together with a corresponding marked peak in the cluster age distribution.This starburst ran for up to ~50 Myr at a rate of ~10 M⊙ per year. Two subsequent starbursts followed, the last (~4–6 Myr ago) of which may have formed the core clusters, both super star clusters (SSCs) and their lighter counterparts.

HGS Session References
HGS Sessions - Clearing Dragon Moth Grid - 3/10/2015