Daily Space: Bode's Galaxy

So far, Daily Space has been looking at nebulas and clusters of stars within our own celestial neighborhood, but today we’re going away—twelve million light years away—to Bode’s Galaxy, also known as M81.

This is what is known as a “grand design spiral galaxy.” Such galaxies have just a few very well defined spiral arms, with what seems to be a largely even distribution of material. They’re better organized than other forms of spiral galaxies, like multi-armed or “flocculent” spirals.  Grand design spirals make up about 10% of all spiral galaxies, one of these is thought to be our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

The M81 galaxy is named for the man who spotted it on the very last day of the year in 1774, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode. It’s actually bright enough to be glimpsed with the naked eye in good, dark sky conditions, and is considered one of the best galaxies to spot with binoculars or a small telescope. Which is good … because I have a small telescope. Now let’s go see what it looks like with a very, very good telescope.