Sombrero (M104)

Object Type: Spiral Galaxy
Scope: Orion 10" Newtonian; Exposure 22 minutes.

The Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104, NGC 4594) is a spiral galaxy in Virgo, seen nearly edge-on so that its bright, oversized central bulge and a sharp foreground dust lane give it the look of a broad-brimmed hat. Distance estimates range from about 30 to 50 million light-years. It has an unusually large bulge and a central supermassive black hole of about a billion solar masses. In late 2024 the James Webb Space Telescope imaged the Sombrero in the infrared, revealing its smooth inner disk and clumpy outer dust ring in new detail.