Did i see M83 or was I dreaming?

[markus.a.bergh]

I think I saw the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy / M83 last night but I'm not 100% sure so maybe someone more experienced can confirm or deny what I think I saw.
What I saw was just East of Hydra at about 2 AM onwards. According to the software I use, this is roughly where I can expect to see M83 at this time. It looked like a round fuzzy ball and at first I thought it might just be a tightly packed cluster or globular cluster but I'm pretty sure that there are no big bright globular clusters in this area or anything else that big. The fuzzy ball had stars inside it. I haven't really seen a galaxy very well so far so it's hard for me to judge this.
I'm located in South East Queensland. I used a 12" Dob. Sorry I cant be more specific, but I'm just starting out and still learning and was pretty tired at this hour.
So the big question is - is there something else that's big and fits the description in this area or did I see M83? If I did see it - that would be very exciting.
Thanks for your help, Markus.

[Rob_K]

Hi Markus! M83 is in Hydra, so not sure what you mean. From your viewpoint in the evening, Hydra is a long, vertically-extended constellation. From your description, it sounds like you may have been looking at NGC5139 Omega Centauri, the great globular cluster. M83 has a tiny, bright condensed core, and a dim, large extension.

Hope this helps!

Cheers -

[markus.a.bergh]

Thanks! Better luck next time...

[goober]

M68 is a globular cluster, and isn't that far from M83.

[glenc]

It sounds like you saw a globular cluster, either omega Cen which is to the left of M83 at 2am or maybe M68 which is below M83 then. M83 was discovered with a 0.5" refractor so it is bright in a 12".