Chandra's image of M83 shows numerous point-like X-ray sources scattered throughout the disk of the galaxy. These sources are probably stellar, more acurately the stellar remnants of supernova explosions (i.e., neutron stars). The bright nuclear region glows prominently due to a cloud of hot gas and a high concentration of stellar x-ray sources that were created during a burst of star formation. This starburst is estimated to have begun about 20 million years ago in the galaxy's time frame. Also discovered was a cloud of 7 million-degree Celsius gas enveloping the nuclear region.

This image is 11 x 10 arcmin. Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image.

Chandra & VLT Image of M83. The red dots on this image represent X-ray point sources detected by Chandra in M83. The X-ray sources are overlaid on an optical image of the spiral galaxy obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. The image is 6.8 arcmin on a side.

M83 VLT images

Chandra Close-up of M83 Nucleus. This image shows a bright nuclear region glowing prominently due to a cloud of hot gas and a high concentration of stellar X-ray sources (mostly neutron stars). This image is 3 arcmin on a side.

Credit for above images: NASA/CXC/U.Leicester/U.London/R.Soria & K.Wu

VLA Radio image of M83. Image is 8.4 arcmin per side
Credit: C.Stockdale (NRL/NRC), J.Cowan, L.Maddox (Univ. of Oklahoma), & M. Rupen (NRAO)

Amateur images of M83

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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: July 20, 2003