Chandra Release - October 8, 2014

Visual Description: M82X-2

An X-ray and optical image features an Ultraluminous X-ray Source (ULX), named M82X-2, which is located in the galaxy M82.  This ULX that astronomers had thought was a black hole is really the brightest pulsar ever recorded at the time of observation. ULXs are objects that produce more X-rays than most "normal" X-ray binary systems, in which a star is orbiting a neutron star or a stellar-mass black hole. Black holes in these X-ray binary systems generally weigh about five to thirty times the mass of the sun.  The image is dominated by shades of pale blue and dusty grey.  The ULX, pulsar M82X-2, appears as a tiny bright pink dot in the center of the image, with some dots scattered around it.   The striking image of the starburst galaxy M82 itself features an intense, glowing and nebulous object sprinkled liberally across with smaller, fainter dots of light.  The image is almost smooth and shiny in appearance, reminiscent of light from a polished blue topaz. M82 is a galaxy seen nearly edge-on with its disk crossing from about 10 o'clock to about 4 o'clock in this image from Chandra.