Messier 104 - The Sombrero Galaxy
The galaxy Messier 104 is located in a distance of 31.1 million light years in the constellation "Virgo" and was discovered in April 1781 by Pierre
Méchain. Due to its southern declination of -11° it rises only 30° above the horizon in Germany. With an apparent magnitude of 8.3mag and a size
of 8.7'x3.5' it is nevertheless visible in a small telescope.
With a diameter of 95,000 light years Messier 104 is only a little smaller than our Milky Way Galaxy and contains about 800 billion solar masses. The
absolute magnitude is M= -21.6mag, which corresponds to a luminosity of 35 billion suns. It has a very large, massive bulge as well as tightly
wound spiral arms that we look at almost from the side. M104 is therefore classified as a "Sa/Sb" type spiral galaxy, although there is currently
evidence that it may be a giant elliptical galaxy or perhaps a lenticular galaxy. On images you can see a dark dust ring, which is responsible
for the name and appears very prominent especially in infrared wavelenghts. Here the largest amounts of molecular hydrogen can be found, which is why
most stars are formed in the vicinity of this dust ring. Messier 104 is also surrounded by a halo of 1,400 to 2,000 globular clusters.
In the center of the Sombrero galaxy is a huge black hole with a mass of 1 billion solar masses, which is about 250x as heavy and large as Sagittarius
A*. It is the closest black hole with such a huge mass to us.
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At a magnification of 270x, the Sombrero galaxy appears quite large in my 20" f/3 and the dust lane cuts through the galaxy in deep black. The
southern part of the halo appears faint and nicely rounded. But much more interesting is the northern part of the galaxy. Directly above the dust lane
you find the bright core of the galaxy, where the huge black hole is lurking. Directly north of the dust lane a bright line runs to both sides. These are the
inner spiral arms! The ends of the galaxy appear quite pointed, but are still rounded. If you look more closely at the northernmost part of the halo, the
bulge appears not quite rounded, but slightly angular!
Once you catch all these details in all their beauty, it's time to get cozy under a black cloth and just enjoy this wonderful galaxy!
