Messier 104 - Sombrero Galaxy

[ionia23]

Object: Messier Object 104
Common Name: Sombrero Galaxy
Object Type: Spiral galaxy
Object Location: Virgo constellation
Magnitude: 8.98
Distance: 29,300,000 light years
Imaging Date: 01-25-2022
Imaging Location: Tucson, AZ
Telescope: Orion SkyView Pro 8" (203mm) reflector
Mount: Orion Atlas equatorial
Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider ST-4, direct to mount.
Guiding software: PHD2
Imaging Camera: Orion Starshoot G4 Color
Filters: none

Image information:
38 x 60s exposures (38 minutes integration time)

Image capture and darkframes/flatframes removal in Orion Camera Studio
Pixel squaring, debayering, and stacking in FitsWork4
Image processing in Startools
Final touch-up in Photoshop

This is another of my challenge objects in the Messier catalog. I've tried to image this one several times over the years and finally got something satisfactory. This is one example of a nearly edge-on galaxy tipped only 7 degrees from our perspective. The huge dust halo surrounding the galaxy gives it the appearance of an elliptical galaxy. The dark dust lane you see runs along the outer edge of the galaxy, mostly colder gases. This halo may extend as much as 10,000 light years from the galactic plane, and I'm quite excited to capture the halo as well as I did.

I've also discovered the hard way that dust particles are either on my sensor or the inside of the protective glass covering it. Time for some very, very careful dusting.