Messier 104 – The Sombrero Galaxy

Captured over two nights with the Askar 140APO in LRGB, this iconic edge-on spiral sits in Virgo about 30 million light years away. The dramatic dust lane and oversized central bulge give it that unmistakable “sombrero” appearance.

I collected 14 total hours using 180-second subs. I also captured L & Ha data, but integrating it proved tricky — the core of M104 is extremely bright and the added luminance contrast made it difficult to preserve color and dynamic range in PixInsight. In the end, I chose to present a pure RGB version to maintain better balance in the nucleus and dust lane.

Final processing in PixInsight, with finishing touches in Photoshop and Topaz to clean up noise and refine detail.

Fun Facts

M104 contains an estimated 800+ billion stars — far more than the Milky Way.

Its central black hole is roughly 1 billion solar masses.

The galaxy has nearly 2,000 globular clusters, an unusually high number.

It was added to the Messier catalog in 1921, long after Charles Messier’s original list.

#AstroFishPhotography #ASIWEEK

Equipment:
- Telescope: Askar 140APO
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM DUO
- Mount: ZWO AM5
- Filters: Antlia Blue 2", Antlia EDGE H-alpha 4.5nm 2", Antlia Green 2", Antlia Luminance 2", Antlia Red 2"
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Software: Adobe Photoshop, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Topaz Labs Sharpen AI