Spiral galaxy M81 in the Great Bear - Spiral galaxy M81 in Ursa Major -...

Spiral galaxy M81 in the Great Bear - Spiral galaxy M81 in Ursa Major - The spiral galaxy M81 is located 12 million years ago - light from Earth. Its arms are home to star-forming regions while its core is surrounded by much older yellow stars. A black hole resides in the center of the galaxy. The M81 galaxy is about 12 million light - years away. The spiral arms, which wind all the way down into the nucleus, are made up of young, bluish, hot stars formed in the past few million years. They also host a population of stars formed in an episode of star formation that started about 600 million years ago. The galaxy's central bulge contains much older, redder stars. It is significantly larger than the Milky Way's bulge. A black hole of 70 million solar masses resides at the center of M81. The black hole is about 15 times the mass of the Milky Way's black hole