There are at least 4 galaxies in this image, all of them about 12 million light years from earth,
and all of them gravitationally bound together. This grouping is found in the constellation
Ursa Major.

M 81 is the large spiral galaxy near the center of this image.
It is 70,000 light years across, making
it a bit smaller than the Milky Way. A past close encounter with M 82 millions of
years ago sent gravitational waves through the galaxy's arms, sparking new star formation.
The arms of the galaxy are studded with reddish nebula areas where new stars are forming
and lighting up, and blue splotches which are young star clusters.
Just above the left edge of M 81 you can see a smaller faint galaxy
{designated Holmberg IX) that orbits around M 81.

M 82 is the galaxy to the upper right.
M 82 seems to have been more seriously disrupted than M 81 by their close encounter.
That encounter stirred up the gas and dust within M 82, which triggered a staggering
pace of new star formation, making M 82 the model "starburst galaxy".
The red jets of material, extending some 10,000 light years out of the galaxy disk,
remain a bit of a mystery to astronomers, but are probably caused by the combined
radiation "wind" from the multitude of new stars born in the core of the galaxy.

Finally, at the left side is NGC 3077, an elliptical galaxy that has also experienced stress and
disruption caused by its large neighbors.

This galaxy group is a great example of how the universe is interconnected, dynamic, and changing.

Image data:
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106N
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro
Exposure: Lum: 2 hours
RGB: 30 minutes each