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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
SunriseRise: 6:04  
clear_day Transit: 12:06  
SunsetSet: 18:09
wb_twilight Civil TwilightWhat's Visible Now?
All Constellations »  Ursa Major »  Deep Sky Objects » 

Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

Altitude: 40.6°   Azimuth: 334.0°   Direction: North-North-West

Messier 81 is a Spiral Galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation. Messier 81 is situated close to the northern celestial pole and, as such, it is visible for most part of the year from the northern hemisphere.

The image below is a photograph of Messier 81 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.721x0.721 degrees (43.26x43.26 arcmins).

Image of Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major star
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DSS2 image of Messier 81 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (21.63 arcmin) and minor (11.25 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Key facts about Messier 81

Messier 81
Galaxy
Ursa Major

Messier 81 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 40.6°
Azimuth: 334.0°
Direction: North-North-West

See also Messier 81 rise and set times.

Given its visual magnitude of 6.94, Messier 81 is visible with the help of a small binocular.

Available Resources for Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major

Photometric information of Messier 81

The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 81 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

7.89
6.94
4.76
4.09
3.83

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of Messier 81.

22.78 mag/arcsec2

Apparent size of Messier 81

The following table reports Messier 81 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 81 is a visual representation of it.
21.63 arcmin
11.25 arcmin
157°

Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major morphological classification

Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major is classified as Spiral (SAab) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.

Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
Visualization of the morphological classification of Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major, Spiral (SAab).
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Messier 81

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of Messier 81 are provided in the following table:

09h 55m 32s
+69° 03’ 55”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 81 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major.

Finder chart Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major.

Rise and set times of Messier 81 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy) - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major is circumpolar and transits at 22:03 UTC (altitude: 72.4°)