M81 is a Hubble class Sb spiral lying 11.8 million light-years away. Despite this classic appearance, it exhibits changes hinting at a recent disruptive interaction: the aberrant parallel dust lanes cutting across its disk, to the lower left of the nucleus. The responsible interaction likely occurred with M82, which appears far more disrupted. The dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg IX to the right is a satellite analogous to one of the Milky Way's Magellanic clouds.