Wide-field view: The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in Hydra | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in Hydra | Digitized Sky Survey 2

This wide-field view shows the field around the spiral galaxy Messier 83. The image was created from photographs in red and blue light taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is 2.9 degrees across.

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.

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.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) through its Guide Star Survey group.

Credit: ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Release Date: May 19, 2010

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