ESA Hubble View: NGC 4303 A Hungry Starburst Galaxy

This new ESA Hubble picture is the sharpest ever image of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 61. 

Taken using the High Resolution Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the central part of the galaxy is shown in striking detail.

Credit: European Space Agency

Also known as NGC 4303, this galaxy is roughly 100,000 light-years across, comparable in size to our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Both Messier 61 and our home galaxy belong to a group of galaxies known as the Virgo Supercluster in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin), a group of galaxy clusters containing up to 2,000 spiral and elliptical galaxies in total.

Messier 61 is a type of galaxy known as a starburst galaxy, one that experiences an incredibly high rate of star formation, hungrily using up their reservoir of gas in a very short period of time (in astronomical terms).

But this is not the only activity going on within the galaxy; deep at its heart there is thought to be a supermassive black hole that is violently spewing out radiation.

Despite its inclusion in the Messier Catalogue, Messier 61 was actually discovered by Italian astronomer Barnabus Oriani in 1779.

Charles Messier also noticed this galaxy on the very same day as Oriani, but mistook it for a passing comet, the comet of 1779.

ESA & NASA Hubble Image: Messier 61

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler 

Nearby spiral galaxy Messier 61 (NGC 4303) faces Earth, as it glows 55 million light-years away. 

The galaxy has a diameter of around 100,000 light years, making it about the size of the Milky Way. 

Notably, six observed supernovae exist within Messier 61, placing it in a group of galaxies which includes Messier 83, also with six supernovae observed, and NGC 6946, having nine observed supernovae. 

Messier 61 makes up part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a massive group of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin).