M83 — Southern Pinwheel
Galaxy in Hydra
About
A barred spiral galaxy in Hydra, about 14.7 million light-years away. Six supernovae have been seen in it, and it probably interacted with the dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 within the last billion years.
Imaging tips
- About 13′ across, so 1,860–3,100 mm on APS-C frames it.
- It stays below 10° altitude from 50°N; one imager at a dark northern site found it never rose high and the seeing was poor.
- One long result used 31 subs per LRGB filter, about 5 minutes each, for 10 hours 20 minutes in total.
- At 21.6 mag/arcsec² it is moderately faint, so plan several hours of broadband data; best from March to May.
Facts
- Size
- 13′ × 12′
- Magnitude
- 7.5
- Coordinates
- RA 13h 37.0m, Dec −29° 52′
- Framing, APS-C
- 1860–3110 mm
- Framing, full frame
- 2860–4760 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr, May
- Peak altitude
- 10° from 50°N, 25° from 35°N