Observation by Paul Downing: Messier 104 "the Sombrero"

Uploaded by

Paul Downing

Observer

Paul Downing

Observed

2014 May 09 - 07:41

Uploaded

2014 May 09 - 07:48

Objects

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

Planetarium overlay

Enable overlay
Show stars
Label stars
Show deep sky objects
Label deep sky objects
Show constellation boundaries
Show constellation sticks
Show constellation labels
Show RA/Dec grid

Constellation

Virgo

Field centre

RA: 12^h39^m
Dec: -11°37'
Position angle: +1°37'

Field size

0°18' × 0°13'

Equipment

QSI 683

Exposure

160 minutes

Location

Southern Spain

Target name

Sombrero Galaxy

Title

Messier 104 "the Sombrero"

About this image

Messier 104 also called the Sombrero galaxy, is in Virgo. It is 30 million light years distant, has a diameter of 75,000 light years and is sixteen times brighter than our galaxy. This image was taken at Paul's observatory in Spain on 2014-04-30 and is an LRGB of 80:40:40:40 minutes, imaged using a QSI 683 CCD camera on a 12.5 inch Planewave telescope. One interesting feature of M104 is the large number of associated globular clusters surrounding the galaxy, a number of which can be seen in the image.

Secondary Note: There are those who would question the distance numbers quoted above, and perhaps with good cause. It is amazing that, even though our knowledge is so much more extensive than once it was, and even though we are now able to peer ever deeper into space and are able to detect events at the edge of the observable universe, there is still a reasonable degree of uncertainty about how far away some of these objects are.

Files associated with this observation

wk20_14_M104_20140430_downing.jpg (37.9 kB)

Like this image

Mike Foylan

Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.