Messier 83 – central region

Eso_eso9949a_1024

eso_eso9949a November 29th, 1999

Credit: ESO

This image of a well-known spiral galaxy, Messier 83, was prepared by superposing three CCD frames from this data release that are now available in the archive. This galaxy is located in the southern constellation Hydra (The Water-Snake) and is also known as NGC 5236; the distance is about 15 million light-years. The spiral structure resembles that of the Milky Way Galaxy in which we live, but Messier 83 also possesses a bar-like structure at the centre. This photo shows the central region of a beautiful spiral galaxy, Messier 83, as observed with the FORS1 instrument at VLT ANTU . It is based on a composite of three images, all of which are now available from the ESO Science Data Archive, as described in this Press Release. The three frames were taken in March 1999 through three different filters: B (wavelength 429 nm; Full-Width-Half-Maximum (FWHM) 88 nm; exposure time 10 min; here rendered as blue), R (657 nm; 150 nm; 3 min; green) and I (768 nm; 138 nm; 3 min; red) during a period of 0.8 arcsec average seeing. The field shown measures about 6.8 x 6.8 arcmin and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring 0.2 arcsec. North is up; East is left. Compare also with ESO Press Photo eso9826 (in B/W) of a small area in this galaxy that was obtained with the VLT Test Camera in June 1998.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9949a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M 83 Messier 83 NGC 5236
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Eso_eso9949a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 37m 0.9s
DEC = -29° 51’ 56.6”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
6.5 x 6.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Hydra

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS1) Optical (I) 768.0 nm
Green VLT (FORS1) Optical (R) 657.0 nm
Blue VLT (FORS1) Optical (B) 429.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_eso9949a_1280
×
ID
eso9949a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
M 83, Messier 83, NGC 5236
Credits
ESO
Release Date
1999-11-29T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9949a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS1, FORS1, FORS1
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, R, B
Central Wavelength
768, 657, 429
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
204.253949, -29.865712
Reference Dimension
4961.0, 5243.0
Reference Pixel
2249.33260013, 2605.73768702
Scale
-2.168212e-05, 2.168212e-05
Rotation
-0.03590704629
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso9949a
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:27:05.863390
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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