NASA News · September 11, 2026
APOD: 2026 September 11 – M83: The Southern Pinwheel
Where it is in your sky
- Object
- M 83 · Southern Pinwheel Galaxy · Galaxy
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Best seen
- Evenings from February to June; highest at midnight in April
- Climbs above 20°
- From the South Pole to 40° N
- Never rises
- North of 60° N
- What you need
- Binoculars
Tonight from your location
From the source
Beautiful and bright spiral galaxy M83 lies some twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very long constellation Hydra. Prominent spiral arms traced by dark dust lanes and blue star clusters lend this galaxy its popular name, the Southern Pinwheel. Still, reddish star forming regions that dot this cosmic pinwheel’s spiral arms have suggested another nickname, the Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. A mere 40,000 light-years across, smaller than the Milky Way, M83 is a member of a group of galaxies that includes active galaxy Centaurus A. In fact, the core of M83 itself is bright at x-ray energies, showing a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes left from an intense burst of star formation. This sharp, groundbased telescopic view also features foreground Milky Way stars and distant background galaxies.
APOD’s main NASA site is moving: From apod.nasa.gov to science.nasa.gov/apod Tomorrow’s picture: lunar sun catcher
From NASA News.
