ROSAT Guest Observer Facility

X-ray Image of M82


ROSAT HRI M82
This image shows an X-ray image of M82 in the 0.1-2.4 keV bandpass obtained with the ROSAT HRI. The temperature of the nuclear emission (shown in red and yellow) is probably around 10 million degrees, while the kpc-scaled extended "superwind" emission has a temperature of around one million degrees. The high supernovae rate in M82 (around one every ten years) is thought to be the power source driving out the superwind. The scale of the image is 10' by 10', or 10 kpc by 10 kpc assuming a distance to M82 of 3.6 Mpc.


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