Starburst Galaxy Messier 82 (M82, colourful cloud, centre) and Supernova 2014J (SN2014J), seen as a bright yellow circle in the centre-right of M82. SN2014J is a type la supernova, which occurs in a binary star system (two stars orbiting one another) consisting of a burned-out white dwarf and a companion star. When the white dwarf in these conditions gains too much mass from the companion star, it becomes unstable and explodes. M82 is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Its proximity to the galaxy M81 causes the compression of gases and formation of new star systems at a relatively high rate.