M61 (spiral galaxy) Magnitude: 9.69
This galaxy is a face-on spiral, and one of the larger galaxies in the Virgo cluster. It is fairly even in brightness except for a stellar nucleus and some faint mottlings on its eastern and western sides.
Its 10th magnitude corresponds to an absolute magnitude of -21.2. It was discovered by Oriani on May 5, 1779 when following the comet of that year, 6 days before Charles Messier's discovery, who had seen it on the same day as Oriani but mistaken it for the comet. Messier mistook it 2 times more until he realized that it did not move. Four supernovae have been observed in M61.