AAO image reference AAT 8. « Previous || Next »
Top left is NE. Image width is about 17 arc min
Image and text © 1985-2010, Australian Astronomical Observatory, photograph by David Malin.
M83 is in the huge constellation of Hydra, and is thought to be very like our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, but seen from above one of its poles and at a distance of about 15 million light years. Composed of billions of stars and huge clouds of dust and gas, this object is one of the finest examples of a spiral galaxy. It shows a concentration of older, yellow stars in its central nucleus with younger, blue stars and patchy red clouds of glowing gas and dark dust lanes in the trailing spiral arms. The massive blue stars occasionally explode as supernovae; at least eight have been seen in Messier 83 in the last 70 years.
Related Images
AAT 8a. The spiral galaxy, Messier 83, (NGC 5236, wide field)
AAT-CCD-1. Around the nucleus of Messier 83
n5236_d NGC 5236, Messier 83
Constellation of Hydra (external site)
For other details of photographic exposure, search technical table by AAT reference number.