the constellationHydra. It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky, making it visible with binoculars. Six supernovae (SN 1923A, SN 1945B, SN 1950B, SN 1957D,SN 1968L and SN 1983N) have been observed in M83......................................Nicolas Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on February 23, 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]Messier 83Hubble view of barred spiral galaxy Messier 83[1]Observation data (J2000 epoch)ConstellationHydraRight ascension13h 37m 00.9s[2]Declination29 51 57[2]Redshift513 2 km/s[2]Distance15.21 Mly (4.61Mpc)[3]TypeSAB(s)c[2]Apparent dimensions (V)12.9 11.5[2]Apparent magnitude (V)7.54[4][5]Other designationsNGC 5236,[2] UGCA 366,[2] PGC 48082,[2]Southern Pinwheel Galaxy[6]See also: Galaxy, List of galaxieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_83http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_83#mediaviewer/File:Star_birth_in_Messier_83_(captured_by_the_Hubble_Space_Telescope).jpgStar birth in Messier 83 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope)NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/29/image/b/ (direct link)Portion of M83 by HubbleNicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is undergoing more rapid star formation than our own Milky Way galaxy, especially in its nucleus. The sharp "eye" of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) has captured hundreds of young star clusters, ancient swarms of globular star clusters, and hundreds of thousands of individual stars, mostly blue supergiants and red supergiants. The image, taken in August 2009, provides a close-up view of the myriad stars near the galaxy's core, the bright whitish region at far right. WFC3's broad wavelength range, from ultraviolet to near-infrared, reveals stars at different stages of evolution, allowing astronomers to dissect the galaxy's star-formation history. The image reveals in unprecedented detail the current rapid rate of star birth in this famous "grand design" spiral galaxy. The newest generations of stars are forming largely in clusters on the edges of the dark dust lanes, the backbone of the spiral arms. These fledgling stars, only a few million years old, are bursting out of their dusty cocoons and producing bubbles of reddish glowing hydrogen gas. The excavated regions give a colorful "Swiss cheese" appearance to the spiral arm. Gradually, the young stars' fierce winds (streams of charged particles) blow away the gas, revealing bright blue star clusters. These stars are about 1 million to 10 million years old. The older populations of stars are not as blue. A bar of stars, gas, and dust slicing across the core of the galaxy may be instigating most of the star birth in the galaxy's core. The bar funnels material to the galaxy's center, where the most active star formation is taking place. The brightest star clusters reside along an arc near the core. The remains of about 60 supernova blasts, the deaths of massive stars, can be seen in the image, five times more than known previously in this region. WFC3 identified the remnants of exploded stars. By studying these remnants, astronomers can better understand the nature of the progenitor stars, which are responsible for the creation and dispersal of most of the galaxy's heavy elements. M83, located in the Southern Hemisphere, is often compared to M51, dubbed the Whirlpool galaxy, in the Northern Hemisphere. Located 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra, M83 is two times closer to