M61

 

Messier 61 is a spiral galaxy in the southernmost part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. This object is very similar to the Milky Way in size, with a diameter of about 100,000 light years. At visual magnitude of just a bit below 10, it requires moderately large telescopes to easily see its spiral arms. Remarkably, M61 has been host to at least 6 supernova in modern times: 1926, 1961, 1964, 1999, 2006, and 2008, 4 of which were type II and the other two (1961 and 1964) of type I.

Taken March 20, 2012, with the C-14 operating at F:3.5 and the ST-8 camera binned 2 X 2. Exposure is 2 minutes.