Categories: IYA Live Telescope Library

IYA Live Telescope Today – The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the IYA telescope “live” on Galactic TV today, don’t worry. We took a video capture for you. Step inside to enjoy today’s view of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy.

The following information is a direct quotation from Wikipedia:

Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 83) – Hydra constellation

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Messier 83 (also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, M83 or NGC 5236) is an intermediate spiral galaxy approximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. Pierre Mechain discovered M83 in 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope. Charles Messier added it to his catalogue of nebulous objects (now known as the Messier Catalogue) in March 1781.

It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky, making it visible with binoculars. Six Supernovae (SN 1923A, SN 1945B, SN 1950B, SN 1957D, SN 1968L and SN 1983N) have been observed in M83. On 16 June 2008 NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer project reported finding large numbers of new stars in the outer reaches of the galaxy. It had hitherto been thought that these areas lacked the materials necessary for star formation.

M83 is at the center of one of two subgroups within the Centaurus A/M83 Group, a nearby group of galaxies. Centaurus A is at the center of the other subgroup. These two groups are sometimes identified as one group and sometimes identified as two groups. However, the galaxies around Centaurus A and the galaxies around M83 are physically close to each other, and both subgroups appear not to be moving relative to each other.

Now that you have seen Messier 83 in a small telescope, you can see why Charles Messier felt it could have been mistaken for a comet! As always, you can visit the remote telescope by clicking on the IYA “LIVE Remote Cam” Logo to your right. We’ll be broadcasting whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria! Enjoy…

Factual information is copied from: Wikipedia.

Tammy Plotner

Tammy was a professional astronomy author, President Emeritus of Warren Rupp Observatory and retired Astronomical League Executive Secretary. She’s received a vast number of astronomy achievement and observing awards, including the Great Lakes Astronomy Achievement Award, RG Wright Service Award and the first woman astronomer to achieve Comet Hunter's Gold Status. (Tammy passed away in early 2015... she will be missed)