The Southern Pinwheel

Located about 15 million light-years away towards the Hydra (the sea serpent) constellation, Messier 83 is a nearby face-on barred spiral with a classic grand design form. It is the main member of a small galactic group including NGC 5253 and about 9 dwarf galaxies. Messier 83 stretches over 40,000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way. However, in some respects, Messier 83 is quite similar to our own galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Messier 83 possess a bar across their galactic nucleus, the dense spherical conglomeration of stars seen at the centre of the galaxies.

Messier 83 has been a prolific producer of supernovae, with six observed in the past century. This is indicative of an exceptionally high rate of star formation coinciding with its classification as a starburst galaxy. Despite its symmetric appearance, the central 1,000 light-years of the galaxy shows an unusually high level of complexity, containing both a double nucleus and a double circumnuclear starburst ring. The nature of the double nucleus is uncertain but the off centre nucleus could be a remnant core of a small galaxy that merged with Messier 83 in the past. The star clusters in the nuclear starburst rings are mostly young stars between 5 and 10 million years old. This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).

Credit:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard) and C. Thöne

About the Image

Id:m83
Type:Observation
Release date:3 December 2009, 23:20
Size:2373 x 2164 px

About the Object

Name:Messier 83
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Distance:15 million light years
Constellation:Hydra
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
1021.3 KB
Screensize JPEG
205.8 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
244.3 KB
1280x1024
365.3 KB
1600x1200
508.8 KB
1920x1200
633.0 KB
2048x1536
764.4 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):13 36 57.80
Position (Dec):-29° 52' 52.82"
Field of view:15.60 x 14.23 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 1.6° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
B
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optical
V
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optical
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope