Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 January 16
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         M83: The Southern Pinwheel
               Image Credit: [3]CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA;
   Processing: [4]T. A. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage/NOIRLab), D. de Martin
                          & M. Zamani ([5]NOIRLab)

   Explanation: Beautiful and bright [6]spiral galaxy M83 lies a some
   twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very
   long constellation [7]Hydra. Prominent spiral arms traced by dark dust
   lanes and blue star clusters lend this galaxy its popular name, The
   Southern Pinwheel. Still, reddish [8]star forming regions that dot this
   cosmic pinwheel's spiral arms have suggested another nickname, the
   [9]Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. A mere 40,000 light-years across, smaller than
   the Milky Way, M83 is a member of a group of galaxies that includes
   active galaxy [10]Centaurus A. In fact, the core of M83 itself is
   bright [11]at x-ray energies, showing a high concentration of neutron
   stars and black holes left from an intense burst of star formation.
   [12]This sharp color image also features spiky foreground Milky Way
   stars and distant background galaxies. The image data was captured with
   the [13]Dark Energy Camera and Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo
   Inter-American Observatory.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC,
                         [34]NASA Science Activation
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2501/noirlab2429a.jpg
   3. https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/
   4. http://aftar.uaa.alaska.edu/
   5. https://noirlab.edu/public/
   6. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-83/
   7. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/hya/index.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061123.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190629.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080110.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030206.html
  12. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2429/
  13. https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250115.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250116
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250117.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/