M82, the smaller irregular galaxy on the left and M81, the big spiral galaxy on the right are both located approximately 7 millon lightyears away from us. Our Milky Way might have an appearance similar to M81 from that distance. M82's shape had been severely distorted by a past encounter with M81, which generated an accelerated birth of new stars. Excited gas jets out with high speed from the center of M82, glowing in the red light of ionized hydrogen.