Gossip from deep space! I managed to film a real intergalactic striptease. The famous Bode Galaxy (M81) got into the frame, shamelessly spinning its lush spiral arms right in the middle of the constellation Ursa Major!
We arranged a total photo hunt for it. 1 hour and 4 minutes of pure photo espionage (or, as the stuffy astronomers say, accumulating a useful signal in 64 minutes of exposure) – and voila! The naked truth about what stars are doing at a crazy distance.
Technical file of our intergalactic photo model:
Brightness: Shines at a full +6.9 m (stellar magnitude). Even through the city smog, its central supermassive “navel” (a black hole of 70 million solar masses) is clearly visible!
Anatomy: The real “Grand Design” is perfect spiral arms with a bunch of cosmic dust where billions of new stars are being born right now.
Speed: Heading straight towards us, so get ready for a collision… in a couple of billion years. #Astrochata