Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82) – Hubble Space Telescope Image

Messier 82, the Cigar Galaxy, stretches across this Hubble view as a narrow, turbulent band of light. Its cool blue outer glow encloses a far warmer centre, where crimson, rust and bright orange gather into dense, irregular folds. Dark channels interrupt the luminous body, dividing it into layers and giving the galaxy an almost sculpted appearance against the surrounding black.

Located 13 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, Messier 82 is classified as a starburst galaxy. Here, that remarkable identity is expressed visually through an intensely concentrated centre: the brightest regions appear embedded within darker material, while red filaments and faint arcs extend beyond the galaxy’s main axis. The resulting image feels less like a smooth disc than a complex structure seen in cross-section, full of knots, fissures and softly merging colour.

The galaxy dominates the frame without entirely filling it. Open space remains around its tapered edges, scattered with minute points of light and a particularly bright star towards the lower right. This surrounding darkness is essential to the composition, isolating the galaxy’s intricate profile and allowing its faintest extensions to remain visible.

A closer look

Along the central axis, compact white and yellow highlights emerge from deep red-orange material. Some are sharply defined; others dissolve into softer patches of cyan and blue. The uneven distribution of light creates a layered rhythm, with luminous ridges repeatedly giving way to dark lanes before brightness returns.

Above the main body, faint reddish strands reach into the black field, especially towards the upper left. Near the right-hand edge, delicate wisps appear to curl away from the brighter regions, becoming progressively more diffuse. The galaxy’s blue extremities are quieter and more transparent, fading gradually rather than ending at a clear boundary.

At large scale, the smaller details become especially compelling: narrow channels near the upper edge, tiny concentrations of light around the centre, and isolated pinpricks scattered through the background. The bright star in the lower-right sector provides a crisp counterpoint to the galaxy’s softer textures, its white light standing apart from the broad sweep of crimson and cyan.

Image details and provenance

• Subject: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82
• Object type: Starburst galaxy
• Constellation: Ursa Major
• Distance from Earth: 13 million light years
• Telescope: Hubble Space Telescope
• Original release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
• Image credit: NASA , ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ). Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain ( STScI ) and P. Puxley (NSF).

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