M104

Messier 104 is also named the Sombrero Galaxy because of its appearance. According to de Vaucouleurs, we view it from just 6 degrees south of its equatorial plane, which is outlined by a rather thick dark rim of obscuring dust. This galaxy is of type Sa-Sb, with both a big bright core, and an unusually pronounced bulge with an extended and richly populated globular cluster system - several hundred can be counted in long exposures from big telescopes. Recent very deep photographs from the Anglo-Australian Observatory show that this galaxy has a very extended faint halo. This galaxy was the first one with a large redshift found, by Vesto M. Slipher at Lowell Observatory in 1912. Its redshift corresponds to a recession velocity of about 1,000 km/sec. M104 is the dominating member of a small group of galaxies, the M104 Group.

Image taken April 6, 2009, with the ST-8 camera and F:3.5 focal reducer. Exposure is 30 minutes, with T&A