Messier Messier may refer to:
People with the surname
*Ashley Messier (born 2002), Canadian ice hockey player
*Charles Messier (1730–1817), French astronomer
* Doug Messier (born 1936), Canadian ice hockey player and coach
* Éric Messier (born 1973), Ca ...
61 (also known as M61,
NGC
NGC may refer to:
Companies
* NGC Corporation, the name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998
* National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, a state-owned natural gas company in Trinidad and Tobago
* National Grid plc, a former nam ...
Virgo Cluster
The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the Virgo constellation. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger ...
of galaxies. It was first discovered by
Barnaba Oriani
Barnaba Oriani (17 July 1752 – 12 November 1832) was an Italian priest, geodesist, astronomer and scientist.
Life
Oriani was born in Garegnano (now part of Milan), the son of a mason, and died in Milan.
After getting his elementary ed ...
on May 5, 1779, six days before
Charles Messier
Charles Messier (; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the ''Messier objects'', referred to with th ...
discovered the same galaxy. Messier had observed it on the same night as Oriani but had mistaken it for a comet. Its distance has been estimated to be 45.61 million light years from the
Milky Way Galaxy
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galaxy, which are ...
. It is a member of the M61 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and
galaxy cluster
A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist of galax ...
s strung out from the southern edge of the
Virgo Supercluster
The Local Supercluster (LSC or LS), or Virgo Supercluster is a formerly defined supercluster containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At least 100 galaxy group ...
.
Properties
M61 is one of the largest members of Virgo Cluster, and belongs to a smaller subgroup known as the ''S Cloud''. The morphological classification of SAB(rs)bc indicates a weakly-barred spiral (SAB) with the suggestion of a ring structure (rs) and moderate to loosely wound spiral arms. It has an
active galactic nucleus
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, with characteristics indicating that this luminosity is not produced by the stars. Such e ...
and is classified as a
starburst galaxy
A starburst galaxy is one undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, as compared to the long-term average rate of star formation in the galaxy, or the star formation rate observed in most other galaxies.
For example, the star format ...
nuclear star cluster
A nuclear star cluster (NSC) or compact stellar nucleus (sometimes called young stellar nucleus) is a star cluster with high density and high luminosity near the center of mass of most galaxies.
NSCs are the central massive objects of fainter, l ...
with an estimated mass of 1 million
solar mass
The solar mass () is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxie ...
es () and an age of 4 million years, as well as a central candidate
supermassive black hole
A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ...
weighing around .
It cohabits with an older massive star cluster as well as a likely older starburst. Evidence of significant star formation and active bright
nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
e appears across M61's disk. Unlike most late-type spiral galaxies within the Virgo Cluster, M61 shows an unusual abundance of
neutral hydrogen
The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line, or H I line is a spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of solitary, electrically neutral hydrogen atoms. It is produced by a spin-flip transition, which means the directio ...
(H I).
Supernovae
Eight
supernova
A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
e have been observed in M61, making it one of the most prodigious galaxies for such cataclysmic events. These include:
* SN 1926A ( type II, mag. 14) was discovered by
Max Wolf
Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-K ...
and
Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth
Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth (4 April 1892 in Heidelberg – 6 May 1979 in Heidelberg) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of 395 minor planets.
Scientific career
From 1912 to 1957, Reinmuth was working as an astronomer at the Heid ...
on 9 May 1926.
* SN 1961I (Type II, mag. 13) was discovered by
Milton Humason
Milton La Salle Humason (August 19, 1891 – June 18, 1972) was an American astronomer. He worked with Edwin Hubble to measure the redshift of nebulas in the early 20th century, providing evidence of the expansion of the universe.
Biography ...
on 3 June 1961.
* SN 1964F (Type II, mag. 14) was discovered by Leonida Rosino (bio-it) on 30 June 1964.
* SN 1999gn (Type II, mag. 16) was discovered by Alessandro Dimai on 17 December 1999.
* SN 2006ov (Type II, mag. 14.9) was discovered by
Kōichi Itagaki
is an amateur astronomer based in Yamagata, the capital city of Yamagata Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshu island, Japan. He is responsible for discovering many comets, and over 170 supernovae.SN 2008in (Type II, mag. 14.9) was discovered by Kōichi Itagaki on 26 December 2008.
* SN 2014dt ( type Ia-pec, mag. 13.6) was discovered by Kōichi Itagaki on 29 October 2014.
* SN 2020jfo (Type II, mag. 16) was discovered by the
Zwicky Transient Facility
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF, List of observatory codes, obs. code: IAU code#I41, I41) is a wide-field sky astronomical survey using a new camera attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, Californi ...
on 6 May 2020.
Gallery
File:Messier61 - ESO - Potw1901a.tif, Spiral galaxy Messier 61 is aligned face-on towards Earth.
File:Messier 61 looks straight into the camera.jpg, Messier 61 image using data from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 2
File:SN2008inHunter Wilson.jpg, Amateur Image of Messier 61 Showing Supernova 2008in on April 16, 2009
File:M61 3.6 5.8 8.0 microns spitzer.png, Infrared image of M61 taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope
File:Messier 61 with SN2020jfo (Supernova).jpg, alt=Messier 61 with SN2020jfo (Supernova) observed on May 15, 2020, Messier 61 with SN2020jfo (Supernova) observed on May 15, 2020
File:Spiral arms of M61 hubble april 2021.tif, M61 galaxy image that incorporates data from not only Hubble, but also the FORS camera at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope
See also
*
List of Messier objects
The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters''). Because Messier was interested only in finding comets, he created a list of th ...