The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy: Messier 83 in Hydra | ESO's Very Large Telescope

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy: Messier 83 in Hydra | ESO's Very Large Telescope

If our Milky Way were to resemble this one, we certainly would be proud of our home! The beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 83 (M83) is located in the southern constellation Hydra (the Water Snake) and is also known as NGC 5236 and as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy. Its distance is about 15 million light-years—about twice as small as the Milky Way. The image show clumpy, well-defined spiral arms that are rich in young stars, while the disc reveals a complex system of intricate dust lanes. This galaxy is known to be a site of vigorous star formation.

M83 is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky and is visible with binoculars. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on February 17, 1752, at the Cape of Good Hope.

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Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: Aug. 10, 2005

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