M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, is a starburst galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, approximately 12 million light-years from Earth. It's characterized by its high rate of star formation and a superwind that expels gas and dust from its core. M82, exhibits a strong H-alpha component due to its extreme starburst activity, a period of intense star formation, which generates large amounts of ionized hydrogen gas, causing the characteristic reddish glow. Astro-physicists state that gravitational interactions with its larger neighbor, M81, causes gas to be funneled into M82's core, triggering a "starburst".