Sombrero Galaxy LRGB 2015

Sombrero Galaxy

This is a really interesting object that everyone seems to remember. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104 or NGC 4594 is located in the constellation Virgo. It’s smaller than our galaxy, measuring 50,000 light years across. It has a very large central bulge and an incredible dust lane in its inclined disk. This is where it gets its name from as it has an appearance of a sombrero. This galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole. In fact it is one of the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies. The speed of revolution of the stars within the centre of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass of 1 billion times the mass of our Sun is present in the centre.

This is a full frame image. The galaxy’s orientation is dictated by the only guide star I could use, so it may look a bit off. After all, there really is no right or wrong way up. Cropping the image would allow for a more tradition presentation, but I really wanted to show as much of the field as possible. It’s full of galaxies. That’s so cool.

 

Equipment Used:

 

Telescope: 10 inch RCOS, F9 Ritchey-Chrétien configuration

Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900 Mount

Camera: SBIG STL-11000 CCD (-20 C)

Image scale: 0.83"/pix

Processing: CCDStack and Photoshop

 

Terry

 

 

Done