Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgement: W. Blair (STScI/Johns Hopkins Univ.) and
R. O'Connell (Univ. of Virginia)
NEARBY SPIRAL GALAXY IS A HOTBED OF STAR BIRTH.
The vibrant magentas and blues in this Hubble image of the barred spiral galaxy M83 reveal that the galaxy is ablaze with star formation. The
galactic panorama unveils a tapestry of the drama of stellar birth and death. The galaxy, also known as the Southern Pinwheel, lies 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra.
The images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in August 2009 to September 2012.