Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  M 61  ·  NGC 4292  ·  NGC 4301  ·  NGC 4303
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M61, Gary Imm
M61, Gary Imm

M61

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M61, Gary Imm
M61, Gary Imm

M61

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Description

This Messier Object, also known as NGC 4303, is a Seyfert barred spiral galaxy located 55 million light years away in the constellation of Virgo at a declination of +5 degrees.  It is a magnitude 9.6 galaxy, the 56th brightest galaxy in the sky.  It spans 6 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This corresponds to a diameter of 100,000 light years.  Its orientation appears to us about 25 degrees off of face-on.

I like the bright white central core, the two symmetric dust lanes spiraling out of the core, the bright blue star clusters and the pink HII regions.  The mid-disk arms form a hexagon-like shape around the core. VV rows are seen in the arms.

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