M104 ... The Sombrero Galaxy
This is M104 (Messier Object 104). Also known as NGC 4594 ( New General Catalog 4594). But, because the prominent dust lane and the central bulge give it the appearance of a hat, it is more commonly known as the Sombrero Galaxy.
It is about 31 million light years from our galaxy and about 49,000 light years in diameter.
It is visible with a good pair of bioculars, but as little more than a faint smudge really. A telescope would give you a better view ... but a set of aligned images, stacked and processed, will be better still.
This galaxy is sort of located between the constelllations Virgo (Latin for Virgin) and Corvus (Latin for Crow). If you have a planetarium program like Stellarium or Starry Night on your computer, you can easily check out where it is located and when it will rise into view for your location.
I've processed a set of stacked images using PixInsight and the Nik Collection plugin for Photoshop ... but it definitely needs further work. I just don't have the time right now to fool around with it anymore, so I decided to upload it as it is.
M104 ... The Sombrero Galaxy
This is M104 (Messier Object 104). Also known as NGC 4594 ( New General Catalog 4594). But, because the prominent dust lane and the central bulge give it the appearance of a hat, it is more commonly known as the Sombrero Galaxy.
It is about 31 million light years from our galaxy and about 49,000 light years in diameter.
It is visible with a good pair of bioculars, but as little more than a faint smudge really. A telescope would give you a better view ... but a set of aligned images, stacked and processed, will be better still.
This galaxy is sort of located between the constelllations Virgo (Latin for Virgin) and Corvus (Latin for Crow). If you have a planetarium program like Stellarium or Starry Night on your computer, you can easily check out where it is located and when it will rise into view for your location.
I've processed a set of stacked images using PixInsight and the Nik Collection plugin for Photoshop ... but it definitely needs further work. I just don't have the time right now to fool around with it anymore, so I decided to upload it as it is.