#messier104

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. 

Image Credit: NASA, ESA. Processing: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo

[johnlyngfr]

Messier-104 is called the “Sombrero Galaxy” because it has a prominent edge like a Mexican hat.

We are viewing it edge-on, and this draws our attention to the contrasting fine dark details revealed at the centre.

The Sombrero Galaxy also has an unusual cloud of dust and gas surrounding it, making it more mysterious than those with the classic pinwheel shape.

This galaxy is 30 million light years distance for earth. In perspective: a radio message to the moon takes about 1 second and to the planets it takes several minutes. However, a radio message to the Sombrero Galaxy takes 30 million years.

This final image is an aggregate of 38 photos where each was a 3 minute exposure. These were considered the best of 68 captured images. I photographed Messier-104 from my balcony in Strasbourg France over two nights in April 2023.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sombrero_Galaxy

[johnlyngfr]

Messier-104, the Sombrero Galaxy, revealed with its famous dust cloud at the centre. Photographed from my terrace in Bordeaux France over three nights May-June 2020. #messier104 #sombrerogalaxy #astrophotography (at Bordeaux, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBVZLm5HIRp/?igshid=1kvkyq82yz2lp

[extremerunning]

The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy with, 800 billion stars and 50,000 light-years diameter in the constellation Virgo located 29 million light-years from Earth. It is one of the most unusual looking galaxies visible from Earth. Its bright nucleus, large central bulge and spiral arms threaded through with a thick dust lane make it look a little like a hat from Mexico. The dust lane is a ring that circles the bulge of the galaxy, and it is rich with gas, dust, and hydrogen gas. Because it has all the elements needed for star formation, it’s not surprising that astronomers have found many sites of star formation inside. The Sombrero has a central supermassive black hole at its heart. Observations of star motions near the black hole suggest it could have the mass of a billion Suns, perhaps one of the most massive of any black hole found so far at the heart of a galaxy. Indeed, the Sombrero is bolometrically most luminous galaxy in the local universe and also the nearest billion-solar-mass black hole to Earth. The Sombrero Galaxy is a favorite target for well-equipped amateur astronomers. If you have a good dark-sky sight, it can be spotted through binoculars; those with large telescopes can spot the dust lane. The Sombrero is a spring and early summer observing object half-way between the constellations Virgo and Corvus. #astronomy #galaxy #sombrero #messier104 #m104 #ngc4594 #virgo #starformationregion #supermassive #blackhole

[spinningblueball]

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the universe’s most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy’s hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat.At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small telescopes. The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 30 million light-years from Earth.