Celestial Objects

Bode's Galaxy

Galaxies

Citation Formats

General Reference

Space and Astronomy Atlas. "Bode's Galaxy." Accessed September 2, 2026. https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/messier-81.

APA Style

Space and Astronomy Atlas. (n.d.). Bode's Galaxy. Retrieved September 2, 2026, from https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/messier-81

BibTeX

@misc{spaceandastronomyatlas-bode-s-galaxy,
  author = {Space and Astronomy Atlas},
  title = {Bode's Galaxy},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/messier-81},
  note = {Accessed September 2, 2026}
}

Bode's Galaxy, catalogued as Messier 81 and also designated NGC 3031, is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, with an isophotal diameter of roughly 96,000 light-years. It is named for the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, who first observed it in 1774, and it forms a well-studied gravitationally interacting pair with the nearby Cigar Galaxy.

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