Type

Intermediate mass

Location

In the constellation Ursa Major

Finder Chart

Distance

11 million light-years (3.4 megaparsecs)

Mass

Approximately 1,000 times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter equal to the size of Mars

Discovery Methods

• Detection of an accretion disk

Hubble Space Telescope view of M82. Clouds of hydrogen gas are billowing from the center of the galaxy as the result of intense bouts of starbirth. [NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team]

This document was last modified: August 29, 2011.