M104 (Sombrero Galaxy) - Virgo

Object data: M104 (NGC 4594) is a bright (magnitude 8) galaxy located in the extreme south of Virgo that takes the name Sombrero from its resemblance to the broad brimmed Mexican hat.  M104 was discovered by P. Mechain in May 1781, too late to be included in Messier's original catalog, but Messier added it by hand to his personal copy in May 1781. Flammarion later added it to the official Messier list.  M104 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, its diameter approximately 100,000 light years, and its total mass about the equivalent of 1.3 trillion suns! Date of exposures: 24/2/98 Location: Southern France Conditions: Calm, Transparency=8, Seeing=7 Telescope: Meade LX200 10" f/10 Off-Axis Guider: Lumicon Giant Easy Guider working at f/11.2 (with lens removed) Autoguider: SBIG ST-4 Camera: Nikon F2 Film: Hypersensitised Kodak Ektapress Mulitspeed PJM-2 Filtration: None Exposure: 2 hours, 24/2/98 Enhancement: The single negatives was scanned optimally and slightly enhanced in Photoshop. Notes: This photo represents my first foray into the Virgo group. I estimated that a single 2 hour exposure would suffice for this bright galaxy, and it probably does.  This was a straightforward scan with very little enhancement in Photoshop. I hope that the colour balance is reasonably accurate.