Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
M61: Virgo Spiral Galaxy
Explanation:
M61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies [ http://www.seds.org…]. Visible in M61 [ http://www.seds.org…] are a host of features common to spiral galaxies [ http://www.astro.pr…]: bright spiral arms [ http://www.astronom…], a central bar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], dust lanes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and bright knots of stars. M61 [ http://crux.astr.ua…], also known as NGC 4303 [ http://www.astro.pr…], in similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. M61 was discovered by telescope in 1779 twice on the same day, but one observer initially mistook the galaxy for a comet. Light from M61 [ http://siggy.iusb.e…] takes about 60 million years to reach us. Recent observations of M61 have detected unpredicted high velocity gas [ http://adsabs.harva…] moving in its halo.
Credit and Copyright:
Z. Frei [ mailto:frei@astro.pr inceton.edu ] (Eotvos [ http://www.elte.hu/]) & J. Gunn (Princeton [ http://astro.prince…]), Palomar Obs. [ http://astro.caltec…]
Credit and Copyright:
Princeton University Press [ http://pup.princeto…]
keyword:
galaxy
keyword:
spiral
facet_when:
1779
facet_where:
Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where:
M61
facet_where:
Ohio
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
Crux
facet_what:
Virgo
facet_what:
spiral galaxy
facet_when_year:
1779
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap980922

M61: Virgo Spiral Galaxy
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