Messier 82 is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's center.

Distance to Earth: 11.42 million light years

Radius: 18,500 light years

Age: 13.3 billion years

Apparent mass: ~50 billion M☉

Redshift: 203±4 km/s

Did you know: M82 was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode on December 31, 1774 together with M81; he described it as a "nebulous patch", about 0.75 deg away from M81, "very pale and of elongated shape".