apart by some unimaginable cataclysmic event at its center. In visible light photographs taken with longer exposures, streamers radiate from the center and look as though they were expelled by a great explosion. But more recent studies at other wavelengths of light create a new historical picture of M82. It appears that instead of a single great explosion, there has been a starburst in the nucleus. In a starburst stars are born and die at phenomenal speed. Gas from this activity might account for the streamers.
