Galaxy M82 in the Great Bear seen in X-rays - The galaxy M82 seen in...

Galaxy M82 in the Great Bear seen in X-rays - The galaxy M82 seen in X-ray - Image obtained by Chandra in X-rays, reveals a cloud (in red) of very hot gas of several million degres emitted from the central regions of the galaxy. M82 is an irregular galaxy distant about 12 million years - light from Earth. Its nucleus, which appears to have suffered from the passage of the neighbouring galaxy M81, is in a phase of violent star activity. Its central regions are rich in star formation. These hot stars blow a stellar wind that becomes a very violent galactic wind. Chandra's X - ray image reveals gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by the violent outflow of matter blasting out of the galaxy. The eruption can be traced back to the central regions of the galaxy where stars are forming at a furious rate, some 10 times faster than in the Milky Way Galaxy. Many of these newly formed stars are very massive and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. Vigorous mass loss from these stars before they explode, and the heat generated by the supernovas drive the gas out of the galaxy at millions of miles per hour. It is thought that the expulsion of matter from a galaxy during bursts of star formation is one of the main ways of spreading elements like carbon and oxygen throughout the universe