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M104
M104 - Sombrero Galaxy
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The Sombrero Galaxy
(also known as M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred
spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It has a
bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge,
and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk.
The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy
the appearance of a sombrero. The galaxy has an
apparent magnitude of 9.0, making it a galaxy that
can easily be seen with amateur telescopes. The
large bulge, the central supermassive black hole,
and the dust lane all attract the attention of
professional astronomers.
This galaxy's most
striking feature is the dust lane that crosses in
front of the bulge of the galaxy. This dust lane
is actually a symmetric ring that encloses the
bulge of the galaxy. Most of the cold atomic
hydrogen gas and the dust lies within this ring.
The ring might also contain most of the Sombrero
Galaxy's cold molecular gas, although this is an
inference based on observations with low
resolution and weak detections. Additional
observations are needed to confirm that the
Sombrero galaxy's molecular gas is constrained to
the ring. Based on infrared spectroscopy, the dust
ring is the primary site of star formation within
this galaxy. here..
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)
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Information
 | Instrument: Vixen VC200L |
| Exposure: 5 x 5 min Luminance |
| Camera: SBIG STL11k |
| Date: January 25, 2009 |
| Location: Briars - MPAS viewing Site |
| Auto guider: Megrez 88FD |
| Enhancement: Maximum DL |
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