Messier 81
M81
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Spiral Galaxy
- Distance from Earth
- 11,600,000 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 6.9 mag
- Apparent size
- 26 ′
- NASA description
- This stately spiral galaxy holds a black hole at its heart that is 70 million times the mass of the Sun.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 11,600,000 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left 11,600,000 years ago (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 6.9 it is fainter than the naked-eye limit (about 6) — you need binoculars or a telescope.
- It spans about 26′ of sky — about the same as the full Moon's 31′.