M83

M83 in Hydra, often called the Southern Pinwheel, is the southernmost galaxy in Messier's catalog and due to its declination of almost -30 degrees, is difficult to see from the northern parts of the Unites States despite its visual magnitude of 7.6. The galaxy has well defined spiral arms but displays few stars between them. While the spiral arms reveal areas of red nebulae and blue areas of young stars, the nucleus is primarily composed of older yellow stars. M83 has a barlike structure extending outward from the nucleus and is classified as an intermediate galaxy between normal spirals and barred spirals. It lies about 15 million light years from Earth and is part of a small cluster of about a dozen galaxies. Six supernovae have been seen in M83 although one of these was only detected in 1990 on a photographic plate taken many years earlier.

Taken May 12, 2012, with the C-14 operating at F:3.5 and the ST-8 camera binned 2 X 2. Exposure was 600 seconds.