Messier 104, the Sombrero in the Sky: 24 Apr. 2025
Messier 104, also known as NGC 4594 and nicknamed “Sombrero” because of its shape, shows its intrigate texture of dust and stars in our image below.
Messier 104, the “Sombrero” galaxy, also known as NGC 4594. 24 Apr. 2025.
The image above comes from the sigma-clipping combination of 10, 300-second, unguided exposures, unfiltered, remotely taken with the the Celestron C14+Paramount ME+SBIG ST10-XME robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy.
Messier 104 (aka NGC 4594), widely known as the “Sombrero Galaxy” due to its striking visual resemblance to the traditional Mexican hat, is one of the most iconic and enigmatic galaxies in the night sky. Located approximately 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, this galaxy has long fascinated astronomers with its unusual structure and appearance. Its distinctive features — a luminous central bulge, a thin and extensive disk and a sharply defined dust lane that encircles its nucleus — are brought into spectacular relief in the latest image captured by the Virtual Telescope Project.
Messier 104 was discovered on May 11, 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain, a close collaborator of Charles Messier and it was later added to the Messier Catalogue as M104. Interestingly, it was not included in the original publication of the catalogue, and was only officially recognized as a Messier object in the 20th century based on Méchain’s notes. Since then, M104 has become a favorite target for both professional and amateur astronomers and a symbol of the elegance hidden in the cosmos.
This galaxy is classified as an unbarred spiral (SAa). The thick dust lane, clearly visible in the Virtual Telescope Project’s image, cuts across the bulge and contains regions rich in gas and young stars, indicating ongoing star formation. M104 also harbors a supermassive black hole at its center, estimated to be about a billion times the mass of the Sun, but it remains a quiet galaxy. Hundreds of globular clusters are around M 104.
The image released by the Virtual Telescope Project captures not just the galactic structure in great detail, but also the sheer contrast of light and shadow that makes the Sombrero so visually arresting. The sharpness of the dust lane, the glowing core, and the extended faint halo are all presented with clarity that rivals some of the best ground-based observations.
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