Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  M 61  ·  NGC 4292  ·  NGC 4301  ·  NGC 4303
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M61 Spiral Galaxy, Roger Menard
M61 Spiral Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M61 Spiral Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M61 Spiral Galaxy, Roger Menard
M61 Spiral Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M61 Spiral Galaxy

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

M61 (NGC 4303) is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy.  M61 was discovered by Barnaba Oriani in 1779 6 days before Charles Messier discovered the same galaxy. Messier actually observed this galaxy on the same night as Oriani but thought it was a comet. M61 is one of the largest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.  It is weakly-barred and moderate loosely wound spiral arms. 

M61 is 6 arc-minutes in size and about 52.5 million light years away. It is classified as a starburst galaxy since it is undergoing extremely high rate of star formation.

As with most galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, there are several other galaxies nearby.

Roger

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M61 Spiral Galaxy, Roger Menard