NASA · Space

M83: The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day features M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, located about twelve million light-years away in the constellation Hydra.

This spiral galaxy is characterized by prominent spiral arms, marked by dark dust lanes and blue star clusters, which give it its popular name. Reddish regions of star formation within its arms have also led to the nickname "Thousand-Ruby Galaxy."

M83 is smaller than the Milky Way, measuring 40,000 light-years across, and is part of a galaxy group that includes Centaurus A. Its core is bright in X-ray energies, indicating a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes resulting from intense star formation.

The featured image is a ground-based telescopic view that also includes foreground stars from the Milky Way and distant background galaxies.

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