M104 On some hazy Carolina nights (Steve Argereow)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Virgo (Vir) · Contains: M 104 · NGC 4594 · Sombrero Galaxy

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M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

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M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

M104, more commonly known as the Sombrero Galaxy, is a spectacular almost edge-on spiral galaxy in Virgo. At magnitude +8.4, it appears in binoculars as a small patch of nebulosity. Its most striking feature, which is visible in medium/large size amateur scopes, is a ring of thick dust encapsulating the galaxy bulge that gives it the appearance of a Sombrero hat. Many astronomers regard M104 as the finest of all the Virgo galaxies.  Pierre Méchain discovered M104 on May 11, 1781. It is 30 million light-years away, with a diameter of 75,000 light-years and contains 100 billion stars.Information Credits: Home Free Star Charts

Since May has started the weather in NC has been slightly overcast or rainy. I did the best I could with M104.  I decided not to crop the image because of the weather, the data I was getting was not as clean as I would have liked. This was also not helped by it being low in the southern sky and in my most light polluted part of the sky. So, I went for a wider field of view.

Note: M104 has always been one of my favorite galaxies. I can still remember the first time I viewed it in 1967 with my 80mm f/15 doublet, and how excited I was to be able to find it!

Telescope: Explorer Scientific 127mm CF APO Refractor f/7.5 (952mm Focal Length)
Explore Scientific X0.7 Reducer f/5.25 (667mm Focal Length)
Mount IOptron CEM40
Camera ZWOASI6200MC-Pro Temp -10C, Binning 1 x 1, Gain 100 Offset 50
ZWO EFW

93 X 240 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Pro Filter
20 Dark Frames/30 Flats
Total Integration Time: 6 Hours 12 Minutes
Acquisition with SharpCap
Stacked with Astro Pixel Processor
Guiding PHD2
Processed with Astra Image

AstroBin Platform open discussions community forum
ZWO ASI 2600MC PRO

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5749663
PixInsight job	ED84D810QWJYQIMYB7ASE4IKUIJ42GZE
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	12h39m59s.10
RA (top/left)	12h42m45s.62
RA (top/right)	12h37m21s.77
RA (bottom/right)	12h37m11s.98
RA (bottom/left)	12h42m36s.91

Dec (center)	-11°37′46″.1
Dec (top/left)	-11°09′33″.7
Dec (top/right)	-11°06′31″.3
Dec (bottom/right)	-12°05′53″.9
Dec (bottom/left)	-12°08′55″.8

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M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

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M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

M104 On some hazy Carolina nights

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