The HST image shows a wealth of detail but what is it?

Other edge-on spirals don’t look like M82.

M83 is a scaled down face-on M82.

M83 - H

Similar to M82, there is a lot of star formation in the nucleus of M83 but we can’t see what is going on above the disk.

M83 - H

Starburst Nucleus

Superwind

Very hot gas

Very hot gas

Warm gas and dust Warm gas and

dust

Warm gas and dust

Warm gas and dust

The star forming nucleus is blowing out a cone of very hot gas.

Hot gas(H) on edge of bubble

Stellar disk

The Chandra image of M82

Red, green, blue = low, medium, high energy X-rays - total energy band ~0.3 -7 keV

•Red - 10M degree hot gas - a few 10M of solar masses

•Winds from massive stars heated by SN in highly star forming nuclear region

•Out-flowing at millions of miles/hour

•Dispersing the elements of life (Fe, Mg, O etc.) in the universe

Spitzer IR image• Multi-color IRAC image showing old stars (blue) and warm dust (red).

• Red streamers show giant dust halo above and below the disk. The dust “cones” extend at least 6000 pc (18000 lt-yr) from the nucleus on each side.

• Dust particles are small (10Å) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) with a few hundred Carbon atoms each. They are found on Earth in barbecues, tailpipes, and anywhere combustion has occurred.

M82 : An Optical- Mid-infrared Comparison

HST/Chandra/Spitzer Image shows the structure of the dust and gas in M82.