Figure: M83

This photo shows the central region of a beautiful spiral galaxy, Messier 83, as observed with the FORS1 instrument at the ESO/VLT ANTU Telescope. It is based on a composite of three images, all of which are now available from the ESO Science Data Archive.

The three frames were taken in March 1999 through three different filters: B (wavelength 429 nm; Full-Width-Half-Maximum (FWHM) 88 nm; exposure time 10 min; here rendered as blue), R (657 nm; 150 nm; 3 min; green) and I (768 nm; 138 nm; 3 min; red) during a period of 0.8 arcsec average seeing. The field shown measures about 6.8 x 6.8 arcmin and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring 0.2 arcsec. North is up; East is left.

Credit: ESO/VLT

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-1999/pr-18-99.html