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This image was created by median combining 7 x 90 second unfiltered images taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 250 with SBIG ST-8XE CCD. The image has been cut down to be 20 x 20 arc minutes in size.
M104, with a diameter of 100,000 light years and a mass of 1.3 trillion suns is one of the brightest and most massive of the galaxies in the Virgo group. Its distance is estimated to be about 50 million light years. The galaxy was named the Sombrero Galaxy because of its appearance. It is seen from 6 degrees south of its equatorial plane which is marked by a thick rim of obscuring dust. Long exposures show M104 to have a large, faint, halo and many globular clusters. It also has an unusually pronounced central bulge.
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In collaboration with the Remote Astronomical Society Observatory
Martin Nicholson - Daventry, United Kingdom.
This page was last updated on January 14th 2008.