Date Posted: 10/24/2025
Date Taken: Four nights, from 2/25/2025 - 4/28/2025
Scope: Planewave CDK 12.5 f/8, 2541mm
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 filters
Temp: -15C
Mount: Losmandy Titan
Guiding: On-axis via ONAG-XM and SX UltraStar at 2541mm. FocusLock real-time focus for focusing.
Exposure: LRGB 435:125:120:115, total 13.25 hours. Luminance 15min unbinned, RGB 5 min, binned 2x2

Calibrated and Stacked with CCDStack2. Processed with Photoshop CS4.

Messier 104, a.k.a the Sombrero Galaxy, is about 31 million light years away in the constellation Virgo, and part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It is a peculiar galaxy in several ways. Its outer structure implies a spiral, but the unusually large and bright bright inner core and halo are more indicative of an elliptical galaxy. Its nearly edge-on view showcases the thick dust lanes surrounding the core. Many of the dim fuzzy stars visible in the halo in this image are actually globular clusters. In fact the galaxy hosts an unusually large number of globulars, about 2000; by comparison, our Milky Way has about 150, and Andromeda, a much larger galaxy, has about 500. At magnitude 8, the galaxy and its prominent dust lane are easily visible in amateur scopes.