This image of the spiral galaxy Messier 83 was taken by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer on June 7, 2003. Located 15 million light years from Earth and known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, Messier 83 displays significant amounts of ultraviolet emissions far from the optically bright portion of the galaxy. It is also known to have an extended hydrogen disc that appears to radiate a faint ultraviolet emission. The red stars in the foreground of the image are Milky Way stars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04629

This ultraviolet image from NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, also know as Messier 83 or M83. It is located 15 million light-years away in the southern constellation Hydra.

The outlying regions around the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, or M83, are highlighted in this composite image from NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the National Science Foundation Very Large Array in New Mexico.