The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) has captured one of the most prominent spiral galaxies in the night sky in incredible detail in a new image.
Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, M83, NGC 5236, LEDA 48082 and UGCA 366, is approximately 15 million light years away in the constellation borders of Hydra and Centaurus. It has a diameter of roughly 50,000 light years.
It is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies in the sky, and is orientated so that it is almost entirely face-on as seen from Earth, meaning that it can be seen in fantastic detail, even using binoculars.
It was discovered in 1752 by French astronomer Nicola Louis de Lacaille, during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope. However, it wasn’t until the work of Edwin Hubble (for which the famous telescope is named) that astronomers realized objects like Messier 83 are actually other galaxies outside the Milky Way.
This incredibly detailed new image was captured on the DECam, which is mounted on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Víctor M Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
It boasts 62 science CCDs (charged-couple device – a solid electrical device that is capable of converting light input into an electrical signal) and 12 CCDs for guiding and focus, with a resolution of 570MP and a 2.2° field of view.
It was designed specifically for the Dark Energy Survey, a space mapping project started in 2013, and has been used to catalog nearly one billion objects.
As reported by Sci News, Astronomers at the NSF said: “DECam’s high sensitivity captures Messier 83’s extended halo, and myriad more distant galaxies in the background.
“The image shows Messier 83’s well-defined spiral arms, filled with pink clouds of hydrogen gas where new stars are forming.
“Interspersed amongst these pink regions are bright blue clusters of hot, young stars whose ultraviolet radiation has blown away the surrounding gas.”
In 2006, researchers noticed a mysterious feature in the center of Messier 83.
“At the heart of this galaxy, they discovered a previously unseen concentration of mass resembling a second nucleus, likely the remnant of another galaxy that is being consumed by Messier 83 in an ongoing collision – possibly the same collision responsible for the starburst activity.
“The two nuclei, which likely contain black holes, are expected to merge to form a single nucleus in another 60 million years.”
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