NOVA Online | Runaway Universe | Spin a Spiral Galaxy

Spin a Spiral Galaxy

As far as galaxies go, M83 is a lot like the Milky Way. Like our home galaxy, it's about 100,000 light-years in diameter, it shines at approximately the same brightness, and it's a spiral galaxy. So you could say that looking at M83 is a lot like looking at the Milky Way.

With this QuickTime VR, you can manipulate M83's 100 billion stars with the touch of your fingers. By clicking and dragging within the image, you'll be able to spin it around and look at it from above and below and many points in between.

	Galaxy M83 [object QTVR; 1.7 Mbytes] This version lets you spin M83 10 degrees at a time.

	Galaxy M83 [object QTVR; 512 Kbytes] This version shows the view every 15 degrees.

The QTVRs below give you views from a more Earthly perspective.

	The Milky Way [pano QTVR; 890 Kbytes] On any dark, clear night, you can see a portion of the Milky Way. This QTVR lets you see the entire galaxy, as seen from our solar system.

	Mauna Kea [pano QTVR; 404 Kbytes] See the view from Hawaii's Mauna Kea, Hawaii's highest mountain and the location of the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy.