This is the Cigar Galaxy (also called M82), a starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Using our SOFIATelescope observatory, researchers found the galactic wind flowing from the Cigar Galaxy weighs quite a lot: it carries the equivalent mass of 50 to 60 million Suns in gas and dust! Aligned along a magnetic field, the wind transports these materials into intergalactic space. The magnetic field is shown as streamlines in this composite image, which combines starlight (gray) and a tracing of hydrogen gas (red) from the Kitt Peak Observatory, with near-infrared and mid-infrared starlight and dust (yellow) from SOFIA and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA/SOFIA/E. Lopez-Rodiguez; NASA/Spitzer/J. Moustakas et al. #galaxy #magneticfields #space #outerspace #imageoftheday #picoftheday #astronomy #nasa