Cigar Galaxy with magnetic field shown as streamlines over red outflow, yellow dust and stars
Cigar Galaxy (M82)
Date

Composite image of the Cigar Galaxy (also called M82), a starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The magnetic field detected by SOFIA, shown as streamlines, appears to follow the bipolar outflows (red) generated by the intense nuclear starburst. The image combines visible starlight (gray) and a tracing of hydrogen gas (red) from the Kitt Peak Observatory, with near-infrared and mid-infrared starlight and dust (yellow) from SOFIA and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Credit
NASA/SOFIA/E. Lopez-Rodriguez; NASA/Spitzer/J. Moustakas et al.
Image Number
SCI2019_0006

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