Chandra Release - June 18, 2008

Visual Description: M81

This image is a composite of an X-ray, optical, ultraviolet (UV), and infrared (IR) views of the spiral galaxy M81. The dominant colors in the image are purple-pink, blue, and grey. The shape of the galaxy is that of a well-formed spiral, which is seen face-on. This composite NASA image of M81 includes X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shown in blue, and concentrated at the core of the galaxy.  An inset to the lower right shows an X-ray only view of the data.  It is shaped like a very wide irregular peanut with textured blobs and specs of bright light.  The optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope is in grey-green, with infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in pink,  and ultraviolet data from GALEX in purple. At the center of M81, the bright core of the image, hides a supermassive black hole that is about 70 million times more massive than the Sun.