Sombrero Galaxy

The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo located 28 million light-years (8.6 Mpc) from Earth. The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 50,000 light-years, 30% the size of the Milky Way. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero. Astronomers initially thought that the halo was small and light, indicative of a spiral galaxy, but Spitzer found that the halo around the Sombrero Galaxy is larger and more massive than previously thought, indicative of a giant elliptical galaxy. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes, and it's considered by some authors to be the brightest galaxy within a radius of 10 megaparsecs of the Milky Way. The large bulge, the central supermassive black hole, and the dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.
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The Sombrero Galaxy
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	12h 39m 59.4s[1]
Declination	−11° 37′ 23″[1]
Redshift	0.003416 ± 0.000017[1]
Helio radial velocity	1024 ± 5 km/s[1]
Distance	29.3 ± 1.6 Mly (8.98 ± 0.49 kpc)
Type	SA(s)a;[1]
Size (ly)	~50,000ly across[2] (15 329.74 pc)
Apparent dimensions (V)	8′.7 × 3′.5[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	8.98[1]
Absolute magnitude (V)	-12.3[3]
Notable features	The overwhelming bright center
Other designations
M104, NGC 4594, UGC 293, PGC 3132

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