M61 (NGC 4303) Vir galaxy
Difficulty level 3

Date of observation: 1997.05.04 22:54
Observing site: Kuju
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/2/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with TPL10.5 at 150x
Width of field: 0.3�‹
Two spiral arms are faintly visible. It is a bright mid-size galaxy. Higher magnifications will show the arms more clearly. It has a stellar nucleus but no central condensation is detected. A wide bar structure is seen on both sides of the galaxy. The arm from the southern bar is short but easy to see. A faint arm seems to extend from the north to the east encircling the center. The overall shape of this galaxy is that of a diamond. Under better sky conditions more detail will be visible.