Messier 83

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Messier 83
M83 - Southern Pinwheel.jpg
Messier 83 captured by the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory in September 2008
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Hydra
Right ascension 13h 37m 00.919s [1]
Declination −29° 51′ 56.74″ [1]
Redshift 0.001721±0.000013 [2]
Heliocentric radial velocity 508 km/s [3]
Distance 14.7  Mly (4.50  Mpc) [3]
Apparent magnitude  (V)7.6 [4]
Characteristics
Type SAB(s)c [2]
Size36.24 kiloparsecs (118,000 light-years)
(diameter; 26.0 mag/arcsec2 B-band isophote) [2]
Apparent size  (V)12′.9 × 11′.5 [5]
Other designations
Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, NGC 5236, PGC 48082, UGCA 366 [6]

Messier 83 or M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy and NGC 5236, is a barred spiral galaxy [7] approximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation borders of Hydra and Centaurus. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on 17 February 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope. [8] Charles Messier added it to his catalogue of nebulous objects (now known as the Messier Catalogue) in March 1781. [8]

Contents

It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky, and is visible with binoculars. [9] It has an isophotal diameter at about 36.24 kiloparsecs (118,000 light-years ). Its nickname of the Southern [lower-alpha 1] Pinwheel derives from its resemblance to the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101).

Characteristics

M83 is a massive, grand design spiral galaxy. [10] Its morphological classification in the De Vaucouleurs system is SAB(s)c, [2] where the 'SAB' denotes a weak-barred spiral, '(s)' indicates a pure spiral structure with no ring, and 'c' means the spiral arms are loosely wound. [11] The peculiar dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 lies near M83, [12] and the two likely interacted within the last billion years resulting in starburst activity in their central regions. [10]

The star formation rate in M83 is higher along the leading edge of the spiral arms, as predicted by density wave theory. [13] NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer project on 16 April 2008 reported finding large numbers of new stars in the outer reaches of the galaxy—20  kpc from the center. It had been thought that these areas lacked the materials necessary for star formation. [14] [15]

Supernovae

Six supernovae have been observed in M83: SN 1923A (mag. 14), [16] SN 1945B (mag. 14.2), [17] SN 1950B (mag. 14.5), [18] SN 1957D (mag. 15), [19] [20] SN 1968L (type II-P, mag. 11.9), [21] [22] and SN 1983N (type Ia, mag. 11.9). [23]

SN 1983N was discovered by Robert Evans from Australia on July 3, 1983. [24] On July 6, it was observed with the Very Large Array and became the first type I supernova to have a radio emission detected. The supernova reached peak optical brightness on July 17, achieving an apparent visual magnitude of 11.54. [25] Although identified as type I, the spectrum was considered peculiar. A year after the explosion, about 0.3  M☉ of iron was discovered in the ejecta. This was the first time that such a large amount of iron was unambiguously detected from a supernova explosion. [26] SN 1983N became the modern prototype of a hydrogen deficient type Ib supernova, with the progenitor being inferred as a Wolf–Rayet star. [27]

Environment

M83 is at the center of one of two subgroups within the Centaurus A/M83 Group, a nearby galaxy group. [28] Centaurus A is at the center of the other subgroup. These are sometimes identified as one group, [29] [30] and sometimes as two. [31] 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. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on, unbarred, and counterclockwise spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and was communicated that year to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 61</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

Messier 61 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It was first discovered by Barnaba Oriani on May 5, 1779, six days before Charles Messier discovered the same galaxy. Messier had observed it on the same night as Oriani but had mistaken it for a comet. Its distance has been estimated to be 45.61 million light years from the Milky Way Galaxy. It is a member of the M61 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centaurus A</span> Radio galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

Centaurus A is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable debate in the literature regarding the galaxy's fundamental properties such as its Hubble type and distance. It is the closest radio galaxy to Earth, as well as the closest BL Lac object, so its active galactic nucleus has been extensively studied by professional astronomers. The galaxy is also the fifth-brightest in the sky, making it an ideal amateur astronomy target. It is only visible from the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whirlpool Galaxy</span> Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 7.22 megaparsecs away and 23.58 kiloparsecs (76,900 ly) in diameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 81</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years). Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉ supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers. In late February 2022, astronomers reported that M81 may be the source of FRB 20200120E, a repeating fast radio burst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 66</span> Intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo

Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier on 1 March 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628, known as the Leo Triplet or the M66 Group. M65 and M66 are a common object for amateur astronomic observation, being separated by only 20′.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 99</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

Messier 99 or M99, also known as NGC 4254 or St. Catherine's Wheel, is a grand design spiral galaxy in the northern constellation Coma Berenices approximately 15,000,000 parsecs from the Milky Way. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain on 17 March 1781. The discovery was then reported to Charles Messier, who included the object in the Messier Catalogue of comet-like objects. It was one of the first galaxies in which a spiral pattern was seen. This pattern was first identified by Lord Rosse in the spring of 1846.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 108</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

Messier 108 is a barred spiral galaxy about 28 million light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 or 1782. From the Earth, this galaxy is seen almost edge-on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3184</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 3184, the Little Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Its name comes from its resemblance to the Pinwheel Galaxy. It was discovered on 18 March 1787 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. It has two HII regions named NGC 3180 and NGC 3181.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 6946</span> Galaxy in the constellations Cepheus & Cygnus

NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group, but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 7331</span> Galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7331, also known as Caldwell 30, is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years (12 Mpc) away in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. NGC 7331 is the brightest galaxy in the field of a visual grouping known as the NGC 7331 Group of galaxies. In fact, the other members of the group, NGC 7335, 7336, 7337 and 7340, lie far in the background at distances of approximately 300–350 million light years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4945</span> Galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 4945 (also known as Caldwell 83) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Centaurus, visible near the star Xi Centauri. The galaxy was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826 and is thought to be similar to the Milky Way Galaxy, although X-ray observations show that NGC 4945 has an unusual energetic Seyfert 2 nucleus that might house a supermassive black hole. Around the nucleus of the galaxy, there is a dense disk of dust and gas, along with many dense star clusters. This object has an estimated mass of 1.4+1.4
−0.7×1011 M☉.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2207 and IC 2163</span> Pair of colliding spiral galaxies in the constellation Canis Major

NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are a pair of colliding spiral galaxies about 80 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. Both galaxies were discovered by John Herschel in 1835.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5253</span> Irregular galaxy in the M83 group of galaxies

NGC 5253 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 15 March 1787.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4622</span> Galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 4622 is a face-on unbarred spiral galaxy with a very prominent ring structure located in the constellation Centaurus. The galaxy is a member of the Centaurus Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1566</span> Galaxy in the constellation Dorado

NGC 1566, sometimes known as the Spanish Dancer, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado, positioned about 3.5° to the south of the star Gamma Doradus. It was discovered on May 28, 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. At 10th magnitude, it requires a telescope to view. The distance to this galaxy remains elusive, with measurements ranging from 6 Mpc up to 21 Mpc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 922</span> Peculiar galaxy in the constellation Fornax

NGC 922 is a peculiar galaxy in the southern constellation of Fornax, located at a distance of 142 Mly from the Milky Way. It is one of the nearest known collisional galaxies. This object was described by the Herschels as "considerably faint, pretty large, round, gradually pretty much brighter middle." The general form is described by the morphological classification of SB(s)cd pec, which indicates a peculiar (pec) barred spiral galaxy (SB) with no inner ring system around the bar (s) and loosely-wound spiral arms (cd).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5668</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 5668 is a nearly face-on spiral galaxy, visual magnitude about 11.5, located about 81 million light years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered on 29 April 1786 by William Herschel. It is a member of the NGC 5638 Group of galaxies, itself one of the Virgo III Groups strung out to the east of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. In addition, A.M. Garcia listed NGC 5668 in the 31 member NGC 5746 galaxy group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1084</span> Galaxy in the constellation Eridanus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4939</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4939 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is located at a distance of about 120 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 4939 is about 190,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on March 25, 1786.

References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 De Vaucouleurs, Gerard; De Vaucouleurs, Antoinette; Corwin, Herold G., Jr.; Buta, Ronald J.; Paturel, Georges; Fouque, Pascal (1991). Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies. Bibcode:1991rc3..book.....D.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 Tully, R. Brent; et al. (August 2016). "Cosmicflows-3". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (2): 21. arXiv: 1605.01765 . Bibcode:2016AJ....152...50T. doi: 10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50 . S2CID   250737862. 50.
  4. ↑ "Messier 83". SEDS Messier Catalog. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 5236. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  6. ↑ "M 83". SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Multimedia Gallery: M83 – Southern Pinwheel Galaxy". NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team. 25 June 2010.
  8. 1 2 Jones, K. G. (1991). Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-37079-0.
  9. ↑ "M 83". messierobjects101.com. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  10. 1 2 Calzetti, Daniela; Conselice, Christopher J.; Gallagher, John S. III; Kinney, Anne L. (August 1999). "The Structure and Morphology of the Ionized Gas in Starburst Galaxies: NGC 5253/5236". The Astronomical Journal. 118 (2): 797–816. arXiv: astro-ph/9904428 . Bibcode:1999AJ....118..797C. doi:10.1086/300972. S2CID   16296827.
  11. ↑ de Vaucouleurs, Gérard (April 1963). "Revised Classification of 1500 Bright Galaxies". Astrophysical Journal Supplement. 8: 31. Bibcode:1963ApJS....8...31D. doi:10.1086/190084.
  12. ↑ Thim, Frank; et al. (June 2003), "The Cepheid Distance to NGC 5236 (M83) with the ESO Very Large Telescope", The Astrophysical Journal, 590 (1): 256–270, arXiv: astro-ph/0303101 , Bibcode:2003ApJ...590..256T, doi:10.1086/374888, S2CID   121984029
  13. ↑ Silva-Villa, E.; Larsen, S. S. (January 2012). "The relation between surface star formation rate density and spiral arms in NGC 5236 (M 83)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 537: 9. arXiv: 1111.1249 . Bibcode:2012A&A...537A.145S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117432. S2CID   119295019. A145.
  14. ↑ "Stellar Birth in the Galactic Wilderness". 16 April 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  15. ↑ Dong, Hui; et al. (July 2008). "Spitzer Observations of Star Formation in the Extreme Outer Disk of M83 (NGC5236)". The Astronomical Journal. 136 (1): 479–497. arXiv: 0804.3632 . Bibcode:2008AJ....136..479D. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/136/1/479. S2CID   119189782.
  16. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1923A. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1945B. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  18. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1950B. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  19. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1957D. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  20. ↑ Romaniello, Martino; Patat, Ferdinando; Panagia, Nino; Sparks, William B.; Gilmozzi, Roberto; Spyromilio, Jason (August 2005), "Very Large Telescope FORS1 Imaging Polarimetry of M83 (NGC 5236). I. Search for Light Echoes from Historical Supernovae", The Astrophysical Journal, 629 (1): 250–258, arXiv: astro-ph/0505100 , Bibcode:2005ApJ...629..250R, doi:10.1086/431470, S2CID   118978264
  21. ↑ Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Hamuy, Mario; Filippenko, Alexei V. (1996). "Supernovae and Massive Star Formation Regions". The Astronomical Journal. 111: 2017. Bibcode:1996AJ....111.2017V. doi:10.1086/117937.
  22. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1968L. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  23. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1983N. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  24. ↑ Thompson, G. D.; et al. (1983). Green, D. W. E. (ed.). "Supernovae". IAU Circular. 3835: 1. Bibcode:1983IAUC.3835....1T.
  25. ↑ Sramek, R. A.; et al. (October 1984). "Radio emission from a type I supernova : SN 1983.51 in NGC 5236". Astrophysical Journal. 285: L59–L62. Bibcode:1984ApJ...285L..59S. doi:10.1086/184365.
  26. ↑ Graham, J. R.; et al. (January 1986). "Discovery of a large mass of iron in a type I supernova". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 218: 93–102. Bibcode:1986MNRAS.218...93G. doi: 10.1093/mnras/218.1.93 .
  27. ↑ Gaskell, C. M.; et al. (July 1986). "Type Ib Supernovae 1983n and 1985f: Oxygen-rich Late Time Spectra". Astrophysical Journal Letters. 306: L77. Bibcode:1986ApJ...306L..77G. doi:10.1086/184709.
  28. ↑ Karachentsev, I. D.; et al. (2002). "New distances to galaxies in the Centaurus A group". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 385 (1): 21–31. Bibcode:2002A&A...385...21K. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20020042 .
  29. ↑ R. B. Tully (1988). Nearby Galaxies Catalog. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-35299-4.
  30. ↑ Fouque, P.; Gourgoulhon, E.; Chamaraux, P.; Paturel, G. (1992). "Groups of galaxies within 80 Mpc. II – The catalogue of groups and group members". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement. 93: 211–233. Bibcode:1992A&AS...93..211F.
  31. ↑ Garcia, A. (1993). "General study of group membership. II – Determination of nearby groups". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement. 100: 47–90. Bibcode:1993A&AS..100...47G.
  32. ↑ Karachentsev, I. D. (2005). "The Local Group and Other Neighboring Galaxy Groups". Astronomical Journal. 129 (1): 178–188. arXiv: astro-ph/0410065 . Bibcode:2005AJ....129..178K. doi:10.1086/426368. S2CID   119385141.
  1. ↑ Its declination means every day it passes the zenith of the sky at the matching parallel of the earth, which is that of northern Argentina. It can be viewed more than an ideal 15° above the horizon for a further 75° to the north, placing such a northern limit of good observation at the 45th parallel north
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