News Release Archive:

News Release 155 of 888

November 5, 2009 09:00 AM (EST)

News Release Number: STScI-2009-29

Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Technical facts about this news release:

About the Object

Object Name:	M83, NGC 5236, Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
Object Description:	Barred Spiral Galaxy
Position (J2000):	R.A. 13h 37m 0s.95 Dec. -29° 51' 55".51
Constellation:	Hydra
Distance:	15 million light-years (4.5 million parsecs)
Dimensions:	This image is roughly 2.6 arcminutes (11,000 light-years or 3,400 parsecs) wide.

About the Data

Data Description:	The image was created from Hubble data from proposal 11360: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Balick (University of Washington), H. Bond (STScI), D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts), M. Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), M. Disney (University of Wales, College of Cardiff), M. Dopita (Australian National University), J. Frogel (Ohio State University Research Foundation) , D. Hall (University of Hawaii), J. Holtzman (New Mexico State University), P. McCarthy (Carnegie Institution of Washington), F. Paresce (European Southern Observatory, Germany), A. Saha (NOAO/AURA) , J. Silk (University of Oxford), A. Walker (NOAO/CTIO) , B. Whitmore (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and E. Young (University of Arizona).
Instrument:	WFC3/UVIS
Exposure Date(s):	August 19-26, 2009
Exposure Time:	11 hours
Filters:	F336W (U), F555W (V), F814W (I), F502N ([O III]), and F657N (H-alpha)

About the Release

Credit:

NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and ESO

Release Date:

November 5, 2009

Color:

The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Five filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are:

F336W (U)	blue
F555W (V)	green
F814W (I)	red
F502N ([O III])	cyan
F657N (H-alpha)	red

Orientation/Scale: