Galaxies
Messier 61 in Virgo

M61 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. With a diameter of around 95,000 lightyears, it is approaching the size of our Milky Way galaxy, and is approximately 50 million lightyears distant.

M61 is noteworthy for the presence of straight segments in the spiral arms, called Vorontsov-Velyaminov rows. These rows are often significantly brighter (and bluer) than other spiral-arm segments in the same galaxy, due to intense star formation.

This LRGB image is the result of 1h 20m of remote data capture from New Mexico in April 2021, using a 20-inch Planewave CDK reflector and FLI Proline PL 11002M camera.

Date: 07/04/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock

Messier 61 in Virgo

M61 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. With a diameter of around 95,000 lightyears, it is approaching the size of our Milky Way galaxy, and is approximately 50 million lightyears distant.

M61 is noteworthy for the presence of straight segments in the spiral arms, called Vorontsov-Velyaminov rows. These rows are often significantly brighter (and bluer) than other spiral-arm segments in the same galaxy, due to intense star formation.

This LRGB image is the result of 1h 20m of remote data capture from New Mexico in April 2021, using a 20-inch Planewave CDK reflector and FLI Proline PL 11002M camera.

Date: 07/04/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock