M 104. NGC 4594. The “Sombrero” Galaxy

M104-LRGB-3-Final-5-Cc

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Messier 104 is the first Messier object that was not included in Charles Messier’s first catalogue. This object was discovered by his friend Pierre Méchain in 1781 and Messier added it, by hand, in his own copy of his catalogue. It was “officially” added to the Messier catalogue in 1921. M 104 is a spiral galaxy with a huge central bulge and 1,200 to 2,000 globular clusters. An immense black hole (estimated at 1 billion solar masses) lies in the center of this galaxy. This is the needed mass to hold stable the complete structure that this galaxy shows. This galaxy shows, in very deep images, an extended halo with some star streams.

Additional Information

Object

Name(s): M 104. NGC 4594. The “Sombrero” Galaxy

Type: Unbarred Spiral Galaxy

RA:  12h 39m 59s

Dec: -11º 37’ 23”

Constellation: Virgo

Size (arcmin): 8.7×3.5

Magnitude: +9.0

Distance: 30 Mly

Image

Date: 2017-02-24 thru 2017-03-03

Location: iTelescope.net, SSO near Coonabarabran, NSW Australia

Size (arcmin): 25.2×22.4

Telescope: Planewave CDK 20” f/6.8

Camera: SBIG STX16803 (4096x4096pix)

Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider

Total exposure: 11 hours (L: 5 hours; R: 2h; G: 2h; B: 2h)

Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2017

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