Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on 17 February 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope.

[8] It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky, and is visible with binoculars.

[11] The peculiar dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 lies near M83,[12] and the two likely interacted within the last billion years resulting in starburst activity in their central regions.

[10] The star formation rate in M83 is higher along the leading edge of the spiral arms, as predicted by density wave theory.

[13] NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer project on 16 April 2008 reported finding large numbers of new stars in the outer reaches of the galaxy—20 kpc from the center.