Galaxy
M61 (M61)
In Virgo (Vir) • Magnitude 9.7 • 6.0 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with M61 pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A face-on barred spiral galaxy in Virgo and one of the most prolific "supernova factories" known — at least 6 supernovae have been observed within it since 1926, an extraordinary frequency averaging roughly one explosion every 16 years.
M61 at a glance
| Catalog IDs | M61, N 4303 |
| Type | Galaxy |
| Constellation | Virgo (Vir) |
| Right ascension | 12h 21m 54s |
| Declination | +04° 28' 12" |
| Apparent magnitude | 9.65 |
| Surface brightness | 13.3 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 6.0 × 5.5 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 49° |
| Best imaging months | Dec, Jan, Feb |
How to image M61
M61 sits in the constellation Virgo at right ascension 12h 21m 54s and declination +04° 28' 12". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window. As a galaxy, M61 needs the darkest skies you can find: surface brightness, not just apparent magnitude, drives whether it will lift out of the gradient.