One of the most peculiar galaxies in the sky, M82 is accessible to anyone with a telescope. Approximately 10 million light years away, it lies beyond our Local Group of galaxies. Still, it is one of the larger, most- studied galaxies visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Even in early photographic images it did not look like other galaxies, possessing neither the sweeping arms characteristic of spiral galaxies nor the featureless fuzziness of ellipticals.
In visible light, M82 appears to be an irregular, spindle-shaped object. Dark dust lanes cut perpendicularly across its middle. Although this visible light image was taken by a large telescope with a long exposure, even amateur astronomers using their naked eyes
