#m 104

[chibinotan]

Eastern Sombrero

[jmonterol]

M 104. LA GALAXIA DEL SOMBRERO.

M 104 es una galaxia lenticular en Virgo situada a 30 millones de AL de casa. Presenta un núcleo grande y brillante con una protuberancia central y una banda de polvo en el disco. Su magnitud aparente es +8. La imagen la tomé una noche con un seeing muy malo y, como siempre, desde la ciudad. Con un buen seeing y fuera de la ciudad hubiera mejorado mucho.

Refractor TS Photoline 72 mm a f6. Cámara imx 294.

Procesado con Risingsky y Startools.

[chibinotan]

Dust Bands in the Sombrero

[beautifuluniversepic]

Сомбреро (галактика), созвездие Девы.

[chibinotan]

Sombrero Galaxy

[vibrantnature]

Hubble Mosaic of the Majestic Sombrero Galaxy by Patrice Paquette on Flickr.

[71percentsolution]

Messier object 104 is more commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy, and for good reason.  This hat-shaped spiral galaxy, found in Virgo, was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781, but not added to the official Messier catalogue until 1921. This galaxy has a big and bright nucleus and an extensive globular cluster system.  It is 8.0 in magnitude and 50,000kly from our galaxy. 

I found that the best way to see the brightness of the core of M104 was to increase the contrast almost all the way then add a magenta color filter to bring out the actual object. I used a single low-pass kernel before adding the color filter. 

[wigmund]

From Astronomy Picture Of The Day; March 11, 2012:

The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared  R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA

This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is part of the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The above image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in optical light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.