M104

Click on image for larger version.

The Sombrero Galaxy is one of many showpieces of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Even at a distance of 40 million light years its beauty and mystery are not diminished. The Sombrero illustrates how incredibly thin the disks of spiral galaxies are. In this case the galaxy is inclined from our perspective by a mere 6 degrees. The extended halo which surrounds the galaxy is where orbiting globular star clusters are found (just like in the Milky Way). Other examples of edge-on spiral galaxies include NGC 891 and NGC 4565.

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8.4
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 70 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 30 minutes binned 2x2
  • Two iterations of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp were applied to the luminance image.
  • Digital Development (DDP) via Maxim/DL was also used in order to display the the very dim and very bright details of the image simultaneously.

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    Minimum credit line: Morris Wade/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 03/19/2004