Fact Sheet
Grand Galaxy
An ultraviolet view of the spiral galaxy M81 shows young, hot stars in blue and older, cooler stars in yellow. The colors show that most of the galaxy's action takes place in its spiral arms, which wrap around a dense core. Known as a "grand design" spiral galaxy for its perfect form, M81 is about 12 million light-years away. This image is from a small space-based telescope known as GALEX. [NASA/GALEX]
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