M81 and M82 form perhaps the most famous pair of galaxies north of the celestial equator. Johann Elert Bode bumped into both quite by chance on New Year's Eve 1774. His discovery is commemorated today by M81's nickname, Bode's Galaxy. But his discoveries went unknown by his contemporaries.

Both galaxies went unobserved for another 5 years until they were independently rediscovered by Pierre Méchain. Charles Messier incorporated Méchain's find into his burgeoning catalog some 19 months later.

Bode, Méchain, and Messier missed fainter companions that are found nearby. Two more decades would pass before William Herschel discovered their dim glows, yet both of this month's challenges - NGC 2976 and NGC 3077 -- can be spotted through small backyard telescopes given good skies.

NGC 3077, an odd-looking 10th-magnitude elliptical galaxy, lies about 45' to the southeast of M81, just beyond a 10th-magnitude field star. As shown in the digitized sketch below, NGC 3077 looks like a slightly oval, fuzzy patch of gray light that is best described as "featureless." Look carefully with averted vision, though and you should spot a faint stellar nucleus just peeking out of the galaxy's center, as I can through my 8-inch (20.3cm) reflector.

Long-exposure close-up images reveal several opaque dust clouds along the edge of the galaxy that radiate away from the galaxy's core like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Elliptical galaxies are typically void of nebulosity, but NGC 3077's unusual appearance is probably due to its gravitational interplay with M81. Evidence of this is clearly visible in radio images, which reveal long filamentary threads of gas swirling between the two.

NGC 2976 is set about 1½° southwest of M81. Rated not quite half a magnitude fainter than NGC 3077, NGC 2976 appears as little more than a dim, oval glimmer through my 4-inch (10.2cm) refractor. Like NGC 3077, NGC 2976 appears in close-up images to be riddled by gravitational warping caused by its proximity to M81. Although classified as a spiral galaxy, its nearly edge-on tilt to our line of sight coupled with these distortions blur its spiral arms in photographs.

There is still more to the M81 family of galaxies. Indeed, more than 30 individual systems belong to the brood, although many are found far from M81's immediate vicinity. NGC 2403, a bright spiral and second most massive member in the group, lies 14° to the west in Camelopardalis, while NGC 4236, a barred spiral, is in Draco, a distant 21° to the east. Both are visible through 3- to -5-inch telescopes, even under the veil of moderate light pollution. Another groupie, the irregular galaxy NGC 2366, is also bright enough to be seen through your telescope as a small smudge some 4° north-northwest of NGC 2403. But I'll save those for future months.

Have a favorite challenge object of your own?  I'd love to hear about it, as well as how you did with this month's challenge.  Contact me through my website or post to this month's discussion forum.

Until next month, remember that half of the fun is the thrill of the chase.  Game on!