M83 is a barred spiral galaxy in the Hydra constellation, around 15 million light years from earth.
Because of its relatively large size in our night sky and high apparent magnitude; it was one of the earliest galaxies to be discovered. When observing this galaxy, it has what's called a double nucleus. It appears to have two individual cores sitting right next to each other. So what's going on there?
For starters let me state that double nucleus galaxies aren't all that uncommon. We basically find them all over the universe. We believe there's two possible explanations for why this phenomenon exists:
1) Galactic mergers. When two galaxies collide, they'll eventually (it's a slow process) merge into a single entity. Obviously, there'll also be two galactic cores/nuclei that end up merging. The dual nucleus may simply be just that.
2) Whenever there's something strange going on near the center/core of a galaxy; the number one culprit on everyone's list will usually be the supermassive black hole present there (and with good reason). Said black hole will of course have a significant gravitational impact all throughout the central region of its galaxy. Another possible explanation for the double nucleus suggests that depending on the type of material being present around the black hole (stars, gas/dust,...); the angle/tilt of the resulting disk/trail might differ. This will create a sort of illusion of two different nuclei.
Setup:
Planewave CDK24
Moravian C3-61000 Pro
Planewave L-600
Image acquisition details:
23x900" HA
21x600" Luminance
18x600" Red
18x600" Green
18x600" Blue
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