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NGC 5236
Bennett 63
Messier 83, MCG-05-32-050
RA 13:37:00
Dec -29°
52.1'
Galaxy |
This galaxy in Hydra was discovered by
Lacaille and included in his 1755 catalogue as Class I No. 6. In his
half-an-inch 8x telescope he saw it as a "small, shapeless" nebula.
It is also the only galaxy in Lacaille's list.
In the Appendix to the 1912 'Scientific Papers
of Sir William Herschel' this object is described as "1787, March 15. vB,
a B. resolvable nucleus in the middle with faint branches about 5' or 6' long, E
sp-nf. 1793 May 5. vB, a SBN with very extensive and vF nebulosity; it more
than fills the field, it seems to be rather stronger from sp to nf. It may be
ranked among the nebulous stars."
James Dunlop observed it from Paramatta, New
South Wales, and included it as No. 628 in his 1827 catalogue of 629 southern
nebulae. Using a 9-inch f/12 telescope, he described it as "185 Centauri
is a very beautiful round nebula, with an exceedingly bright well-defined disk
or nucleus, about 7 or 8 arcseconds diameter, surrounded by a luminous
atmosphere or chevelure, about 6' diameter. The nebulous matter is rather a
lttle brighter towards the edge of the planetary disk, but very slightly so. I
can see several extremely minute points or stars in the chevelure, but I do not
consider them as indications of its being resolvable, although I have no doubt
it is composed of stars."
Sir John Herschel observed it at the Cape of
Good Hope with an 18-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He sketched the galaxy, and
commented on it as follows: "This is Bode's 185 Centauri, observed by
Lacaille, and remarked by him as nebulous. The reader will not fail to compare
it with V.43 [NGC 4258], figured in my Northern catalogue, to which it bears a
perfect analogy. They are the two finest specimens of their class - that of
large, faint, oval nebulae with small, bright, exceedingly condensed, oval
nuclei. And it will not escape notice, on comparison of the figure, that in
both cases the nucleus appears to contain within it a still smaller round
kernel. The minute scrutiny of these objects with instruments of larger
aperture and high magnifying powers, would be in the highest degree interesting
and instructive. The situation of 185 Centauri, is however far too low for very
satisfactory observation in these latitudes." In the records of his sweeps
he recorded it as "very bright, very large, suddenly brighter in the middle
to a centre equal to a star 9th mag, diam 8 arcseconds, of a resolvable
character like a globular cluster, surrounded by an immensely large, extremely
dilute almost equable light 7' or 8' diameter, somewhat oval, and passing with
excessive suddenness into the central light." On the next sweep, he saw it
as "faint, very large, elongated, very suddenly very much brighter in the
middle to a sharp nucleus (ill seen, owing to clouds)." On the sweep after
this, he recorded it as "185 Bode Centauri. Elongated; pos of axis = 55.1
, which is also that of the two stars involved in it = 10th mag." His
final observation of the galaxy was recorded as "very large, very bright,
much elongated, very suddenly very much brighter in the middle to a nucleus;
diam in RA = 17.5 seconds = 3 arcseconds, 49 arcseconds in arc; a small star
involved; pos with nucleus 80 approx. by a rough diagram made at the time."
Hartung notes: “it is a large ellipse
about 7’ x 5’ in pa 60 deg rising steadily to a very bright nucleus
hardly 20 arcsec across . . I see evidence of concentric structure, apparent
also with 20cm . . it is an easy object for small apertures.”
Simon Tsang notes that "in binoculars
this famous southern face-on spiral galaxy appeared diffuse and faint, rather
like M33. I detected two arms in an 8-inch telescope and a hint of the fainter
third arm with the 13-inch Dobsonian."
Houston includes this galaxy in his Hydra
Hysteria. He calls it a "delightful spiral for small telescopes. Its 8th
mag disk is 10' in diameter." In 1972 he wrote: "Charles Messier,
observing from Paris, regarded this 8th mag spiral as a difficult object,
perhaps because it never climbed more than 13 degrees above his horizon. That
he saw M83 at all should encourage users of large binoculars and small
telescopes, especially those who live in more southerly latitudes. On a clear
dark night, averted vision and patience will enable nearly all of the 8'
diameter of M83 to be seen in a 10-inch or larger telescope. However, at low
power one can sweep past this galaxy, since its bright core is easily mistaken
for a star."
Tom Lorenzin, in the e-version of "1000+
The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: “8M;
10' x 8' extent; very large and a little elongated in a NE-SW direction; very
bright with soft, splotchy outer reaches; very much brighter center and stellar
core; larger aperture shows detail in spiral arms; 12M star 4' SW of core; 9M
stars 5' E of core and 8' SW of core; !good supernova prospect! see photo at
HAG -28; 25' NE is bright star 6M SAO 181825; 15' due E is dimmer 7M SAO
181821.”
Donald J. Ware: “This is one of the
finest examples of a face on barred spiral galaxies in the sky. It is large,
about 10' in diameter, with an obvious central bar and spiral arms which seem to
go all the way around the galaxy. Often photographed by amateurs, this is a real
gem of the night sky.”
Steve Coe (1992, The Deep-Sky Observer, Webb
Society, Issue 1) observing with a 17.5-inch f/4.5 at 100x notes: "vB, L,
elongated, vbM, easy in finder, three arm spiral structure visible at x165."
This galaxy is a member of the fairly nearby
Centaurus group of galaxies, which includes NGC 4945, 5102, 5128, 5236 and NGC
5253. Five supernovae erupted in this galaxy; 1923 (15.0p), 1950 (16.0p), 1957
(7.5p), 1968 (7.8p), 1983 (12.5v). The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that
this is a 8.5 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads LGBS,WD,ICOMPLEXSSTR
DKLNS&KNS. Sandage and Tammann (1975, Astrophysical Journal, 196, 313-328)
includes this galaxy in the NGC 5128 Group. Members include NGC 4945, NGC 5068,
NGC 5102, NGC 5128 & NGC 5236. This galaxy appears on page 28 of "The
Hubble Atlas of Galaxies" by Allan Sandage (1961, Washington, DC).
Additional
data: Other names: “E444-81,M83,UA366”. Inclination: (face-on, in
degrees) 33 Total photoelectric blue mag 8.20 Total colour index .66 Logarithm
of the angular diameter D25 (arcminutes) 2.11 Blue photographic magnitude 8.08
This galaxy is included in a sample of galaxies with velocity less than 500km/s
with respect to the centroid of the Local Group. [Nearby Galaxies. Schmidt
K.-H., Priebe A., Boller T. (Astron. Nachr. 314, 371 (1993))]
11x80: Easily seen as a 10'
wide, round smudge. A row of three 9th mag stars lies to the southeast of the
galaxy; they point northeast-southwest. With averted vision, the galaxy takes on
a mottled appearance! The northwest side appears brighter, and there seems to be
a small almost star-like point in the centre, with two other stars on the
southeast edge of the galaxy. The whole view cries out for more aperture!
(suburban skies) [AS]
(binoculars): Kerry Hampson
notes that the tiny corona of stars 2 degrees south of M83 "is a beautiful
sight." [KH]
8-inch Newtonian: At 66x, a
little circular patch, easily visible. With low power, its aspect is of an
unfocused star. It forms a ‘T’ with three equidistant and aligned
stars (WWS-EEN) [GG]
8-inch Meade: Large, bright,
delicate spiral galaxy with definite flimsy arm structure clearly visible.
Bright nucleus, with hazy surroundings. The galaxy stands out beautiful towards
the background with a few stars in the field. (super wide-angle 18mm eyepiece) [MS] |
