M81, known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a bright spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major, about 12 million light-years away. In small telescopes it appears as a delicate haze with a star-like core, while in long exposures it reveals elegant, symmetrical spiral arms and an extended halo of stars.

M81 interacts gravitationally with its neighbour, M82 (the so-called Cigar Galaxy). Their mutual pull distorts the outer parts of M81 and fuels vigorous star formation in M82. In deep images you can spot subtle dust lanes and faint streams of material left by past close encounters; dark dust veins wrap around M81’s bright central bulge.

The object was noted by Johann Elert Bode in 1774. Despite its relatively modest cosmic distance, M81 is impressive in scale — roughly comparable to the Milky Way (about 90 thousand light-years). In colour photographs the yellowish centre betrays an older stellar population, while bluish knots in the arms mark young clusters and H II regions.