M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301 (Jerry Macon)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Virgo (Vir) · Contains: M 61 · NGC 4292 · NGC 4301 · NGC 4303

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M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

Powered byPixInsight

M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

UNGUIDED
CDK20 with 0.66 Reducer: FL 2280mm, F/4.5, 0.34 arcsec/pixel
Imaged on 1/6/2022, 1/7/2022, 1/9/2022

A lovely collection of galaxies in Virgo.

(NASA)
Discovered in 1779 by the Italian astronomer Barnaba Oriani, M61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. Charles Messier noticed it on the same night as Oriani, but he mistook the galaxy for a passing comet. A member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, M61 is roughly 55 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.2. It is most easily spotted during the month of May and can be observed using a moderately sized telescope.M61 is a type of galaxy known as a starburst galaxy. Starburst galaxies experience an incredibly high rate of star formation, hungrily using up their reservoir of gas in a very short period of time (in astronomical terms). But this is not the only activity going on within the galaxy; an X-ray source has been detected deep at its heart, leading astronomers to believe that a supermassive black hole sits at its core. This galaxy has also been host to seven observed supernovas — the most of any galaxy in the Messier catalog.

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Messier Objects
Planetary Nebulae
Sharpless 2 Objects

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5388478
PixInsight job	83YU9FO1GL4RVKD42BBN8F2643ZVHKM1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	12h21m49s.257
RA (top/left)	12h20m49s.770
RA (top/right)	12h22m50s.998
RA (bottom/right)	12h22m48s.780
RA (bottom/left)	12h20m47s.559

Dec (center)	+04°30′19″.35
Dec (top/left)	+04°18′55″.55
Dec (top/right)	+04°19′41″.90
Dec (bottom/right)	+04°41′43″.42
Dec (bottom/left)	+04°40′57″.95

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M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

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M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

M61 Hexagonal Galaxy in Virgo - NGC 4292 - NGC 4301

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