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The M81 and M82 Galaxies
M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (the Cigar Galaxy) are two neighboring galaxies located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Their gravitational interaction has altered their structures and triggered intense star formation in M82.
Beyond the frame
At first glance, the brown clouds surrounding the two galaxies appear to belong to them. In reality, almost all of them are much closer—they are part of our own Milky Way. These vast interstellar dust clouds are known as Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN). Rather than glowing on their own, they faintly reflect the combined light of billions of stars in our galaxy. Because they are extraordinarily dim, they become visible only after many hours of exposure. In a single image, we are seeing dust only a few hundred light-years away alongside galaxies some 12 million light-years from Earth.