Sombrero Galaxy
M104 · NGC 4594
An edge-on disk wrapped in a thick dust lane, giving it the brim-and-crown look of a sombrero.
Sombrero is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo about 30 million ly from Earth. It spans roughly 49,000 ly, about 49% of our Milky Way's width. The light reaching us tonight left it about 30 million years ago.
Lenticular
type · Sa
30 million ly
from Earth · measured
49k ly
across
8.6
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 30 million ly from home, you are seeing Sombrero as it looked roughly 30 million years ago. The photons left before that much of history had passed, and are only now reaching us.
At the centre
Sombrero Central Black Hole
A supermassive black hole of 1.0 billion ☉.
Nearest galaxies
NGC 4504Spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 4802Lenticular18 million ly
apartBlack EyeSpiral18 million ly
apartNGC 4487Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4597Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4546Elliptical20 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 4802Lenticular18 million ly
apartBlack EyeSpiral18 million ly
apartNGC 4487Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4597Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4546Elliptical20 million ly
apart
Source: structural data (position, morphology, brightness, redshift) from OpenNGC (CC BY-SA). Distance from published measurements.