The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo located 28 million light-years (8.6 Mpc) from Earth. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero. Astronomers initially thought that the halo was small and light, indicative of a spiral galaxy, but Spitzer found that the halo around the Sombrero Galaxy is larger and more massive than previously thought, indicative of a giant elliptical galaxy. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes, and it’s considered by some authors to be the brightest galaxy within a radius of 10 megaparsecs of the Milky Way. The large bulge, the central supermassive black hole, and the dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Faulkes Telescope South
Imaging cameras: Fairchild CCD486 BI
Software: DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop
Filters: Bessell-B, SDSS-R, Bessell-V
Resolution: 1098×1469
Dates: June 28, 2013
Locations: Siding Spring Observatory
Frames: 60×60″
Integration: 1.0 hours
Avg. Moon age: 19.90 days
Avg. Moon phase: 73.05%
RA center: 189.998 degrees
DEC center: -11.623 degrees
Pixel scale: 0.405 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 179.748 degrees
Field radius: 0.103 degrees
Автор: Matthew, 22.10.2014
AstroPhotography of the day of SPONLI
