Messier 83 or M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy and NGC 5236, is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on February 23, 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope.

Distance to Earth: 15.04 million light years

Radius: 27,750 light years

Age: 13.27 billion years

Constellation: Hydra

Stars: 40 billion

Did you know: Messier 83 stretches across an area of over 40,000 light years, which is roughly 40 percent the size of the Milky Way Galaxy.