M82的剧烈恒星形成被认为源于星系合并事件，其恒星形成速率是银河系的10倍，但在天文学时间尺度上这一阶段预计仅持续数亿年。Webb的高解析度成像揭示了该星系膨胀变形的盘面结构，其两侧半径不对称，暗示M82在剧烈星系合并过程中产生了扭曲形态。此外，极端的恒星形成活动正驱动双极物质外流，从盘面上方和下方喷射形成沙漏状结构，呈现出分层特征：靠近盘面的黄色丝状物质代表电离气体，而较远处的橙色物质则由多环芳香烃等微小尘埃颗粒组成，有助于追踪星际介质中的物质分布。
Webb作为有史以来发射至太空的最大、最强大的望远镜，由国际合作伙伴共同打造，ESA提供了Ariane 5运载火箭的发射服务，并贡献了主力光谱仪NIRSpec及中红外仪器MIRI的50%。本次观测所获取的数据将成为科学家拼凑M82形成历史的关键资料集之一，帮助研究人员理解星暴星系内部正在进行的物理过程，并进一步揭示星系合并如何触发和调控极端恒星形成活动。
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope completed a 65-hour NIRCam imaging survey of edge-on spiral galaxy Messier 82 (M82), also known as the Cigar Galaxy, located 12 million light-years away, revealing previously unseen details of this starburst galaxy. Webb's image contains approximately 16.5 million individual stars, depicted as luminous blue granules, though this represents only a small fraction of the total stellar population, with the majority too faint to detect. Prior observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope were limited by the galaxy's heavy dust content at high resolution; Webb's infrared sensitivity combined with extended observation time enabled it to pierce through the thick dust.
M82's intense star formation, believed to result from a galaxy merger, proceeds at 10 times the rate of the Milky Way, yet this phase is estimated to last only a few hundred million years in astronomical terms. Webb's high-resolution imaging revealed the galaxy's distended disc structure with asymmetrical radii on its two sides, suggesting a distorted shape produced during intense galaxy mergers. Furthermore, the extreme star formation drives bipolar outflows ejected above and below the disc in a layered hourglass-shaped structure: yellow tendrils near the disc represent ionised gas, while orange material farther out consists of small dust grains known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which help trace material in the interstellar medium.
Webb, the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, was built through international collaboration, with ESA providing the Ariane 5 launch service and contributing the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI. The dataset acquired from this observing programme will serve as a key resource for scientists piecing together M82's formation history, helping researchers understand the physical processes currently occurring within the starburst galaxy and further elucidating how galaxy mergers trigger and regulate extreme star formation activity.