STARGAZER ◆ HIRE

Field Notes · Deep-Sky

Anatomy of the Sombrero

Messier 104 in Virgo — a galaxy seen almost edge-on, ~30 million light-years away, on the Unistellar Odyssey

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104): a bright central bulge with a thin edge-on disk, resembling a wide-brimmed hat, in a sparse star field.1 2 3
A galaxy seen almost perfectly side-on

What you're seeing

1

The BulgeGalactic core

The bright glowing centre — a dense swarm of hundreds of billions of older stars, the heart of the galaxy.

2

The Edge-On DiskSeen side-on

We view this galaxy almost perfectly side-on, so its disk appears as a thin spindle of light rather than a sweeping face-on spiral.

3

The Dust LaneThe hat brim

A band of cold dust rims the disk's near edge. It's faint in this short 68-second frame — a longer exposure would draw it out — but it's the feature that gives the Sombrero its hat-brim silhouette.

~30 million ly
Distance away
Virgo
Constellation
Edge-On Spiral
What it is