Discover the cosmos! Each day we feature a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
September 12, 1995
Spiral Galaxy M83
Credit:
Anglo-Australian
Telescope photograph by David Malin
Copyright:
Anglo-Australian Telescope
Board
Explanation: Long winding spiral arms are clearly evident on this spectacular picture of the spiral galaxy M83. The blue color of the spiral arms is caused by the relatively large fraction of young blue stars there. Dark dust lanes are mixed in with the stars and trace the spiral structure of the galaxy. This galaxy contains many billions of stars, and its light took many millions of years to reach us. Our own Milky Way Galaxy would appear similar to this if viewed from M83! This picture is number eight on a publicly posted list of images from the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT).
Tomorrow's picture: Elliptical Galaxy M87