M61 Spiral Galaxy

Nemiroff, Robert, and Jerry Bonnel. "Astronomy Picture of the Day."Astronomy Picture of the Day. Nasa, 20 May 2014. Web. 20 May 2014

Graham Klimley

Current Event Report Paper

May 19, 2014

            For this current event, I found a very cool picture taken from NASA. It is a picture of an M61 Spiral Galaxy. The picture is really focusing on the middle of the M61 Spiral Galaxy. The M61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in by the close Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The Virgo Cluster is home for over thousands of other galaxies including the M61 Spiral Galaxy. Virgo Cluster valleys are located to be roughly around 48 million light years away. In the M61 Spiral Galaxy there are many things around it and inside. The Spiral Galaxy has spiral arms, a central bar, dust lanes, and bright knots of stars all round it.

            The M61 Spiral Galaxy, also called the NGC 4303, is very similar to the Milky Way Galaxy. The M61 Spiral Galaxy was spotted in 1779. Coincidentally, the M61 Spiral Galaxy was spotted twice on the same day, but one of its observers mistook the Galaxy for a comet.

            If you wanted to see light from the M61 Spiral Galaxy, expect to wait a while… Researchers say that it takes roughly 55 Millions years for the M61 light to have contact with the earth. The Image that I found and took from NASA, was taken by a Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope's launch in 1990 sped humanity to one of its greatest advances in that journey. Hubble is a telescope that orbits Earth. Its position above the atmosphere, which blocks the light that reaches our planet, and gives it a view of the universe that typically far surpasses that of ground-based telescopes. Hubble Telescopes are the best Mission that is in space right now, giving us direct contact on what is really up there. A perfect example is the M61 Spiral Galaxy, located 55 million light years a way.