Mounted image 037: Spiral galaxy Messier 83

This dramatic image of the galaxy ­Messier 83 was captured by the Wide Field Imager at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, located high in the dry mountains of the Chilean Atacama Desert. Messier 83 lies roughly 15 million light-years away towards the huge southern constellation of Hydra, the Sea Serpent. It spans just 40000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way, though both galaxies possess a bar across their galactic centres.