NASA showcases a classic Hubble image of the 'grand design' galaxy

NASA has taken to its Hubble Twitter account to share a classic image of a stunning spiral galaxy called M81.

NASA's famous Hubble Space Telescope, which has been operating for more than 30 years, now snapped the image of the large "grand design" spiral galaxy M81, and the space agency released the image on May 28, 2007. NASA describes the image as the "sharpest image ever taken" of M81 as it showcases the galaxy's oblique angle and gorgeous spiral structure that is similar to the Milky Way galaxy.

M81 is located approximately 11.6 million light-years away from Earth, and with Hubble's incredibly sharp image quality, researchers are able to locate independent stars within the "arms" of the spiral galaxy. NASA explains that the stars seen winding down the spiral arms are young and have a blueish hue, meaning they formed within the last few million years.

2

2

Additionally, the arms also host stars that began forming 600 million years ago. At the center of M81 is a black hole that is 70 million solar masses, which is about 15 times the size of Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.