[gregbradley]

Is it possible its evidence of dark matter?

It was the first thing I noticed about Marco's image that there is a dark band around the galaxy. At first I thought it may have been processing from a lassoo. But I think its an actual thing in the image. I see it in my own images of the area.

Greg.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

It looks like the galaxy is sitting in a dark hole about twice its diameter

It's pretty clear in these 100% res crops:

1) http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...36997/original

2) http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...36998/original

open them and then shrink to fit on your screen to make it more obvious.

I see the same dark hole/halo around your M83 too

As I said I'm starting to think it is a visual illusion created by the stars..??

Mike