Messier 61 - Starburst barred spiral galaxy

Messier 61 - Intermediate barred spiral galaxy in the Constellation Virgo - COAST Robotic Telescope -telescope.org -Open University - credit: Pip Stakkert

" Messier 61 is about the same size as the Milky Way, some 55 million light years distant and can be seen with a telescope in the constellation Virgo. It is face on as viewed from our planet and the spiral arms and central bar can be seen clearly in the above image. Unlike our galaxy, Messier 51 exhibits an exceptionally high rate of star formation. You can see the clusters of young hot blue stars along the spiral arms in the Hubble image below. A number of supernovae have been seen in this galaxy which also sports an immense active black hole at its centre" - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Image from the Hubble Space Telescope credit : ESA/Hubble & NASAAcknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler. - http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1324a/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26952115