David's Astronomy Pages (Stellar & Deep Sky)
M81 Galaxy Group

The M81 Group is a group of galaxies in Ursa Major, located around 12 mly away from our Milky Way Galaxy.

M81 Galaxy Group (distances in million light years)
Bullet NGC 4236 - Spiral Galaxy (Caldwell 3) - 10.5 mly
Bullet NGC 2403 - Spiral Galaxy (Caldwell 7) - 10.6 mly
Bullet NGC 2366 - Irregular Galaxy - 11.1 mly
Bullet M81 - Spiral Galaxy (Bode's Nebula) - 12.0 mly
Bullet M82 - Spiral Galaxy - 12.0 mly
Bullet IC 2574 - Spiral Galaxy (Coddington Nebula) - 12.4 mly
Bullet NGC 3077 - Spiral Galaxy - 12.8 mly
Bullet NGC 2976 - Spiral Galaxy - 14.8 mly
 
More Information
Bullet More Information

NGC 4236 - Spiral Galaxy (Caldwell 3) - 10.5 mly

NGC 4236 / Caldwell 3  (Draco)

Image

CCD Image (60% size reduction, Linear Scale)
3 x 90s sec exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2009-04-08 22:31 h UT (#362085-89)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.7) + ST-10XME

  

NGC 4236 - detail

Image

Negative CCD Image (60% size reduction)
Image details as above

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NGC 2403 - Spiral Galaxy (Caldwell 7) - 10.6 mly

NGC 2403 / Caldwell 7 / Herschell V-44  (Camelopardalis)

Image

CCD Image (60% size reduction, Linear Scale)
5 x 90s sec exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2009-04-08 22:31 h UT (#362064-68)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.7) + ST-10XME

  

NGC 2403 - detail

Image

CCD Image (60% size reduction, Square Root Scale)
Image details as above

 

Image

False colour CCD Image (60% size reduction, Log Scale)
Image details as above

 

Image

False colour CCD Image (60% size reduction, Log Scale)
Image details as above

 

NGC 2403 - colour images

Image

CCD Colour Image (RGB Combine, cropped to central area)
1 x 90s (Red), 1 x 90s (Green), 1 x 120s (Blue),  3x3 binning
2009-04-08 22:38 h UT (#362069-71)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.7) + ST-10XME

 

Image

CCD Colour Image (LRGB combine, cropped to central area)
5 x 90s (Luminance, C), 1 x 90s (Red), 1 x 90s (Green), 1 x 120s (Blue),  
3x3 binning
2009-04-08 22:38 h UT (#362069-71)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.7) + ST-10XME

 

Image

CCD Colour Image (LRGB combine in  AIP4WIN, cropped to central area)
5 x 90s (Luminance, C), 1 x 90s (Red), 1 x 90s (Green), 1 x 120s (Blue),  
3x3 binning, Luminance Gamma Adjusted 
2009-04-08 22:38 h UT (#362069-71)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.7) + ST-10XME

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NGC 2366 - Irregular Galaxy - 11.1 mly

NGC 2366 (Camelopardalis)
Image
CCD Image (Linear Scale, 50% size)
7 x 120 sec exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2013-10-12 19:04hUT (#548001-07)
12" LX200R  (at f/9.7) + ST-10XME 
   
NGC 2366 - Detail
The smaller galaxy to the lower left is NGC 2363
Image 
 CCD Image (cropped)
Image details as above

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M81 - Spiral Galaxy (Bode's Nebula) - 12.0 mly

M81  (Ursa Major) 
 Image
CCD Image (linear scale, 50% size)
90 sec exposure (single frame), 3x3 binning, C Filter 
2009-03-10 01:29 h UT  (#356259)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.8) + ST-10XME
 
 Image
CCD Image (square root scale, 50% size)
Image details as left

 

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M82 - Spiral Galaxy - 12.0 mly

M82 (Ursa Major) 
Image
CCD Image (Square root scaling, 55% size)
9 x 20s (median combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2009-03-10 01:40 h UT  (#356266-74)
12" LX200R  (at f/5.8) + ST-10XME
[full size image]
Image
CCD Image (Square root scaling, cropped)
Image details as above

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IC 2574 - Spiral Galaxy (Coddington Nebula) - 12.4 mly

IC 2574   (Ursa Major)
- an outlying member of the M81 group
Image
CCD Image
5 x 2 min exposure (median combine), 2x2 binning, C Filter 
2006-05-04 01:35 h UT (#121197-201)

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NGC 3077 - Spiral Galaxy - 12.8 mly

NGC 3077 (Ursa Major)
Note: the bright star to upper right of the galaxy is HIP 49230 (mag +7.9)
NGC 3077 lies at distance of around 13 million light years (12.5-13.2 depending on method)
Image
CCD Image (50% size)
4 x 90s exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter
2015-10-31 21:48 h UT (#591266-71)
12" LX200R  (at f/10.4) + ST-10XME
   
NGC 3077 - Detail
Image
CCD Image (100% size, log-scale, cropped)
Image details as above
   
Image
False Colour CCD Image  (100% size, logscale, cropped)
False Colour, Inverse Spectrum
Image details as above

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NGC 2976 - Spiral Galaxy - 14.8 mly

NGC 2976   (Ursa Major)
an outlying member of the M81 group
Image
CCD Image (cropped)
5 x 120 sec exposure (average combine), 3x3 binning, C Filter 
2013-10-15 19:28 h UT (#549046-50)
12" LX200R  (at f/9.7) + ST-10XME
 
NGC 2976 - wider view
Image
CCD Image (50% size)
Image details as above

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More Information

M81 Group Members:

Galaxy RA Dec Group Blue Mag Type Size kly Mly
NGC 4236 12 16.8 +69 28 M81 10.05 Sd 70 10.5
NGC 2403 07 36.8 +65 36 M81 8.93 Sc 70 10.6
UGC4 305,HoII 08 19.1 +70 43 M81 11.1 Irr 25 10.9
NGC 2366 07 28.9 +69 12 M81 11.43 Irr 25 11.2
M81,NGC 3031 09 55.6 +69 04 M81 7.89 Sa 90 12.0
M82,NGC 3034 09 55.8 +69 41 M81 9.3 Irr 40 12.0
NGC 3077 10 03.4 +68 44 M81 10.61 Irr 20 12.2
IC 2574 10 28.4 +68 25 M81 10.8 Irr 50 12.4
NGC 2976 09 47.3 +67 55 M81 10.82 Sc 25 14.8

Note: Green rows show galaxy group members that have been successfully imaged (white row have not yet been imaged).

Galaxy    Name II   RA (2000.0) Dec type m_v       dim      RV  RV_hel
NGC 2366  H III.748 07:28.9 +69:13  Ir+  10.91   7.3x3.5   252   100
NGC 2403  H V.44    07:36.9 +65:36  Sc    8.39  17.8x11.0  259   131
M81 dw A  PGC 23521 08:23.9 +71:02  I?   16.5:   1.3x0.7   262   113
Holm. II  UGC 4305  08:18.9 +70:43  Ir+  10.75   7.6x6.2   305   157
DDO 53    UGC 4459  08:34.1 +66:10  Ir+  14.38p  1.7x1.3   144    19
Holm. I   UGC 5139  09:40.5 +71:11  Ir+  12.94   3.5x3.0   287   143
NGC 2976  H I.285   09:47.3 +67:55  Scp  10.15   4.9x2.5   175     3
M81       NGC 3031  09:55.6 +69:04  Sb    6.93  25.7x14.1   95  - 34
M82       NGC 3034  09:55.8 +69:41  Pec   8.41  11.2x4.6   388   203
Holm. IX  UGC 5336  09:57.5 +69:03  Im   15.5    1.2x0.5   175    46
NGC 3077  H I.286   10:03.3 +68:44  E2p   9.85   4.6x3.6   148    50
M81 dw B  UGC 5423  10:05.5 +70:22  Ir+  14.94p  1.2x0.9   479   350
IC 2574   Codding.  10:28.4 +68:25  S+   10.56  12.3x5.9   185    57
A0952+69  Arp Loop  09:57.5 +69:17  Im   16.08
K52
K73
BK3N      PGC 28529 09:53.8 +68:59  Im   17.1      0.5          - 40   
Garland   PGC 29167 10:03.9 +68:40  Im                            50
DDO 82    UGC 5692  10:30.6 +70:37  Sm:  13.47   3.2x1.8   347   180
The following galaxies, around NGC 4236, lie nearby and at roughly the 
same distance, so may either be outlying members of the M81 group, or form a 
small nearby group of their own: 
UGC 6456  VII Zw403 11:28.0 +79:00  Pec  13.7    1.5x0.9
NGC 4236  H V.51    12:16.7 +69:28  SB+   9.66  18.6x6.9   160
DDO 165   UGC 8201  13:06.3 +67:42  Ir+  12.68p  3.2x2.2   201

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