The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged (Niall MacNeill)

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

The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged

In 2016 I turned my C11 to M104, the Sombrero Galaxy and with my Canon EOS 5D MkII, I obtained an unguided image. My first ever of a galaxy. I was over the Moon to record something. See Revision D. It is also my wife's favourite since she first saw it through the eyepiece.

I have returned to this awesome galaxy a few times but never with the equipment to do it justice. Here, I am pleased to say, I have made a step forward. It is an LRGB image.

Lights

Luminance: 38 x 600 sec

Red: 22 x 600 sec

Green: 21 x 600 sec

Blue: 20 x 600 sec

Darks: 35

Bias 35

Flats: 20 per colour channel per camera change

Revision B as a mouseover is the full frame image.

Image C is a comparison with the HST image and frankly I was amazed to see the same structures, not only along the edge of the dust lane, but also in the plane of the disk of this almost edge on spiral.

M104 or NGC 4594 is known as the Sombrero Galaxy for obvious reasons. It is about 30 million l.y. away and at 49,000 l.y. across is somewhat less than half the size of the Milky Way. However, where our galaxy houses a central black hole with a mass of 4 million solar masses, the Sombrero's black hole is estimated to have a mass of 1 billion solar masses.

What a thing.

Final
Original
B
C
D

B

Description: The full frame image

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: A comparison with a Hubble Space Telescope image

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: My first ever image of M104 - 16.5.7

Uploaded: ...

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4477442
PixInsight job	NG3T1WTZ1NYOUWBQJ3CP2FB9IZUZKBOG
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	12h39m58s.463
RA (top/left)	12h40m29s.790
RA (top/right)	12h39m33s.340
RA (bottom/right)	12h39m27s.112
RA (bottom/left)	12h40m23s.900

Dec (center)	-11°37′31″.64
Dec (top/left)	-11°31′19″.58
Dec (top/right)	-11°29′52″.62
Dec (bottom/right)	-11°43′43″.38
Dec (bottom/left)	-11°45′10″.14

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The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged

The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged

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The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged

The iconic Sombrero Galaxy - M104, the first galaxy I ever imaged

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