Messier 104, M104, NGC4594, also known as The Sombrero Galaxy
M104 is located 28 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, and with a mass equal to 800 billion suns, it is one of the most massive objects in the Virgo galaxy cluster. It spans 50,000 light years across.
M104 was discovered in 1781 by the French astronomer and comet hunter Pierre Méchain, and Messier added it to his list, and it was independently discover by William Herschel in 1784.
M104 appears bright in most telescopes and the central dark dust lane is easily visible in the eyepiece of most 6 inch or larger telescopes under urban skies.
The dark dust lane and the bright bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero hat, hence the name.
The Sombrero Galaxy contains one the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.
Visually the galaxy appears to be 9 arc min by 4 arc minutes in size, and shines at magnitude 8.98. Look for all those little background galaxies too!
Captured on 04-02-2021 with my Explore Scientific 102mm Triplet APO Refractor Telescope, Bisque ME Mount, QHY 183C Cooled Cmos Camera, 95min exposure, (19 x 300sec subs), Bisque ME Mount, SkyX Camera capture software, PHD2, DSS, Pixinsight, & Adobe CS 2021.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
www.galacticimages.com
