M61 Observation Details
M61 Daily Motion
M61 will be visible until July, 11, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M61 Visibility Timetable on May 12
M61 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M61 rise | 16:19 | |
| Moon Rise, 99.4% illuminated | 20:02 | 41° |
| Sunset | 20:35 | 46° |
| Civil sunset | 21:07 | 50° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:25 | 54° |
| M61 transit | 22:33 | 55° |
| Astrosession end | 04:30 | 3° |
| M61 set | 04:47 | |
| Moon Set | 05:54 | -13° |
Track M61 Position Throughout the Night
← Mon, 12 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M61 - Barred Spiral Galaxy
M61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by Barnaba Oriani in 1779 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M61 is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and is known for its active galactic nucleus.
M61 spans about 100,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 52 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.7, making it visible with a small telescope.
M61 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M61
| Object name | M61 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M61 coordinates | 12.36525, 4.47364 |
| Center coordinates | 12.36525, 4.47364 |
M61 Passage Through Night
Current position of M61
| Time | 04:24 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M61 elevation | 4° |
| M61 Azimuth | 88° |
Annual motion of M61
| Date | Tue, 13 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:22 |
| Twighlight end | 04:24 |
| Twighlight duration | 6h 1m |
| Rise | 16:15 |
| Set | 04:43 |
| Elevation at transit | 55° |
| Transit time | 22:29 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 12h 21m 54s", Dec: 04° 28' 25s |
| Magnitude | 10 |
| Constellation | Virgo |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M61 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.