The Cigar Galaxy also known as Messier 82 or NGC 3034 is the prototype nearby The Starburst Galaxy about 12 million light-years away M82 appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is also called the 'Cigar Galaxy' because of the elongated elliptical shape produced by the tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight.
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a galaxy that appears to be sizzling hot, with huge plumes of smoke swirling around it. The galaxy, known as Messier 82 or the "Cigar galaxy," is in fact, smothered in smoky dust particles (red) blown out into space by the galaxy's hot stars (blue).
Studies using the Hubble Space Telescope have suggested that stars are being born within M82 at a rate ten times that of the Milky Way. Previously thought to be an irregularly shaped galaxy, M82 is now known to be hiding two spiral arms.
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