Messier 83

Messier 83, sometimes called the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Hydra and can be observed in the spring.

Although this is a fairly bright galaxy M83 in like with an apparent brightness of 7.5, it is difficult to observe from Central Europe, since it is low on the horizon. Observed from southern latitudes it is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky.

The galaxy is about 15 million light -years away and eponymous for the M83 group, the Local Group galaxies neighboring group, which also contains the bright galaxy Centaurus A.

The galaxy was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751.

Appearance

M 83 appears already in the prism binoculars as a round misty spot. In a larger telescope the beam structure and spiral arms are visible.

Panoramic image in the UV by GALEX (blue, green) and in the 21 cm band by the Very Large Array (red).