The Sombrero Galaxy (also known asM 104 orNGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. 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. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes. The large bulge, the central supermassive black hole, and the dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sombrero_Galaxy

ABOUT THE IMAGE

DATE/TIME:  The evening of April 11th, 2010.

CAMERA:  Canon XSI, 450D

TELESCOPE:  Orion 100mm ED refractor @ F/18

ISO SETTING:  800

EXPOSURES:  19

EXPOSURE LENGTH:  10min.

TOTAL EXPOSURE LENGTH:  3hrs, 10min.

SUBTRACTIONS:  20 darkframes, 10 bias frames

CAPTURE SOFTWARE:  MaximDL

STACKING SOFTWARE:  Deep Sky Stacker

PROCESSING:  Photoshop CS3