Chandra Release - January 22, 2003

Visual Description: M83

  This Chandra X-ray Observatory image features a majestic spiral galaxy called M83. The dominant colors in the image are dark red, yellow, with numerous blue and green dots across it. The key structures in this image are the spiral arms of the galaxy, which can be seen as chunky curved arcs emanating from the center of the galaxy. The spiral arms are made up of stars, gas, and dust, all of which contribute to the galaxy's overall structure.  The numerous point-like sources are mostly neutron stars and black holes scattered throughout the disk of this spiral galaxy. There is a bright core region in the center of the galaxy, colored yellow, that glows prominently due to a burst of star formation that is estimated to have begun about 20 million years ago in the galaxy's time frame. Also discovered in this image was a cloud of 7-million-degree Celsius gas enveloping the nuclear region, seen as the fuzzy material in darker reds. The picture that emerges is one of enhanced star formation in the central region of M83 that has produced more massive stars, leading to more supernova explosions, neutron stars and black holes. This activity could also account for the hot gas cloud which shows evidence for an excess of carbon, neon, magnesium, silicon and sulfur atoms.