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

Meade 16in LX200 telescope operating at f/10
SBIG ST8E 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
  • Particular details highlight this image as a high-quality amatuer picture. Note the very subtle spiral arms inside the disk. The light that shines through the dust lane in the foreground is also very difficult to capture.
  • One iteration of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp was applied to the luminance image.

  • The average FWHM of stars in this data is 1.9" .
  • 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: Don Stotz and Mike Ford/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 01/15/2002