The Sombrero Galaxy
M104 in Virgo
is a mighty, edge-on galaxy with a popular name very descriptive of its morphology. Originally discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781,
it was independently observed by William Herschel, and not added to the Messier catalog until much later.
Located 31,000,000 light-years away, it has a diameter of 49,000 light-years. The galaxy is rather unique for a few reasons.
Classified as an SA(s)a-type, it has a huge central bulge and a very bright nucleus, which contains a black hole. Immediately obvious is the very prominent dust lane running along its edge. The rather monochrome color of this island universe is typical of an elliptical galaxy.
Many thanks to my student, Dr. Khavar Dar for the wide field data, and to my friend, Mike Selby, who acquired and calibrated the data from
Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, which yielded the high-resolution dust lane. To view its structure, please follow the links below.
LARGE
FULL-RES
is a mighty, edge-on galaxy with a popular name very descriptive of its morphology. Originally discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781,
it was independently observed by William Herschel, and not added to the Messier catalog until much later.
Located 31,000,000 light-years away, it has a diameter of 49,000 light-years. The galaxy is rather unique for a few reasons.
Classified as an SA(s)a-type, it has a huge central bulge and a very bright nucleus, which contains a black hole. Immediately obvious is the very prominent dust lane running along its edge. The rather monochrome color of this island universe is typical of an elliptical galaxy.
Many thanks to my student, Dr. Khavar Dar for the wide field data, and to my friend, Mike Selby, who acquired and calibrated the data from
Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, which yielded the high-resolution dust lane. To view its structure, please follow the links below.
LARGE
FULL-RES