Chandra Close-up of M83 Nucleus
Chandra's close-up of M83 shows a bright nuclear region glowing prominently due to a cloud of hot gas and a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes that were created during a burst of star formation that is estimated to have begun about 20 million years ago in the galaxy's time frame.
Scale: Image is 3 arcmin on a side
(Credit: NASA/CXC/U.Leicester/U.London/R.Soria & K.Wu)

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.
Scale: Image is 6.8 arcmin on a side
(Credit: NASA/CXC/U.Leicester/U.London/R.Soria & K.Wu)

VLA Radio image of M83
(Credit: C.Stockdale (NRL/NRC), J.Cowan, L.Maddox (Univ. of Oklahoma), & M. Rupen (NRAO/AUI/NSF))

HST Image of M83 Central Region
This HST image reveals that there is active star formation in both the bright nucleus of M83 as well as farther out in the spiral arms where bluer stars are seen. In between the nucleus and the outer spiral arms, there is a greenish-colored, bar-shaped region. Astronomers believe this area contains middle-aged stars and that it is largely devoid of active star formation.
(Credit: NASA/HST)

HST Close-up of M83 Nucleus
This HST image reveals that there is active star formation in both the bright nucleus of M83 as well as farther out in the spiral arms where bluer stars are seen. In between the nucleus and the outer spiral arms, there is a greenish-colored, bar-shaped region. Astronomers believe this area contains middle-aged stars and that it is largely devoid of active star formation.
(Credit: NASA/HST)