Even though it takes the light emanating from M83 15 million years to reach us,
it's still considered one of our closest neighbors.
In this virtual trek around M83, you will cover huge distances. Because of the
immense size of the galaxy, when you travel from the point where you are
looking down on the galaxy to a point just below the galaxy's plane (about 100
degrees), you cover a distance of over 100,000 light-years. This isn't a
journey you'd want to make in any starship.
Visualization of the M83 QTVR by Robert Patterson, Stuart Levy, Donna Cox,
NCSA/UIUC (National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.) The 3-D
model of M83 was derived from a high-resolution photograph
by David Malin.
