There are two prominent galaxies in the foreground – Bode’s Galaxy (M81) the Cigar (M82) – but if you look closely you can see several other more distant galaxies in the background. When I first processed this photo, I was surprised to see a lot of wispy web-like filaments throughout the image. At first I thought maybe they were clouds, or perhaps a processing artifact of some sort, especially as this wispy stuff didn’t show up in other photos I’ve seen of the region.
It turns out that this is a real phenomenon, called the IFN – Integrated Flux Nebula. It’s caused by the faint glow of light from the Milky Way reflecting off tenuous extragalactic strands of dust. It’s so faint, in fact, that IFN wasn’t identified until the 1990s. I think it adds a sort of eerie sci-fi effect to the image, and I am also pleased to have been able to detect it from a relatively light polluted neighborhood – which is why I haven’t cropped it out.
If you zoom in a little on the galaxies, you can more clearly see the beautiful spiral pattern of M81 on the right, and the pinkish red starburst plumes of M82, that look as though they are draped around the Cigar like a scarf.
They are both about 12 million light years from us and relatively close to each other. In fact, the intense starburst activity of M82 is due to the gravitational influence of M81.
