The Amazing Sombrero Galaxy

[Andy01]

28,000,000 light Years Distant! :eyepop:
This amazing galaxy has long been on my bucket list.

Looks like a UFO being chased by stormtroopers – “Pew Pew Pew”, as the three stars to the upper right look like laser bursts… well to me anyway! :ship1:

M104 from Snake Valley Astrocamp - a dark site in Country Victoria, Australia.
5 hrs LUM & RGB Data in 3-5 min subs

Seeing was average below 40-50 degrees with the bushfire smoke haze around Vic, but it cleared up enough around the meridian to get some half decent Luminosity. :)

Processed using Astro Pixel Processor & Photoshop CC 2019
Pixel Peepers go HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/full/395243/0/)

And if you havn't visited already - it's also in my new website HERE (https://andysastro.com/2019/03/10/sombrero-galaxy-m104/)

The striking spiral galaxy M104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting the more popular moniker, The Sombrero Galaxy.

M104 has a bright central bulge when viewed with ground-based instruments. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum and is thought to host a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. (text >Apod)

[multiweb]

That's really nice! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

A very nice Sombrero Andy. I've always liked the scene when paired with that asterism and while it looks pretty cool in any orientation really, presenting the galaxy disc tilted, always makes me think of a 1950's fake UFO/flying saucer on a bit of string :)

Mike

[Andy01]

Cheers Marc - surprisingly it turned out pretty well considering the seeing & relatively short integration time :)



Thanks Mike - I love the different coloured stars in that asterism too.
As for flying saucers, you mean like these guys pictured below? :rofl::ship2:

[traveller]

Very nice Andy. Great framing too.

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Awesome! I love the stars pointing to it in the frame too. I can't fit these in with the 10".

[raymo]

Very nice indeed; I take my hat off to you.:)
raymo.

[Ryderscope]

That is certainly a great field Andy and well presented. I haven’t seen that orientation previously.

[Placidus]

Superb, Andy.

Lots and lots of detail. Lots of tiny background galaxies.

The orange halo is good, but not sure about the bright blue core.

[Atmos]

Really like the framing of this one, a nice balance :) The blue galactic core doesn’t look quite right but overall it’s a nice image

[Geoff45]

Nice field Andy, but I agree with others that there is something amiss with the core.
Geoff

[gregbradley]

A very striking composition yet again. You are so good at that.

I like the image but on my monitor the background/overall image has a brown cast.

Greg.

[Andy01]

Thanks Bo, Jen, Kevin, Raymo, Rodney, M&T, Colin, Geoff & Greg :)

Appeciate your comments & input - I probably pushed the blue/yellow a tad too far in LAB - I've tweaked the colour balance a tad reflective of your comments - here's a new one & a bit more neutral :D HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/full/395860/0/)

Cheers all :)

[Shiraz]

good resolution and presentation Andy. Agree with others, that the core maybe looks a bit forced compared to some other examples on the web, but that is down to interpretation and it is a very impressive image overall.

Cheers Ray

[gregbradley]

Yes that looks better to me. The diffraction spikes are nice as well they highlight how bright those stars are.

Greg.

[Andy01]

Hey thanks Ray - that's nice feedback - I love your galaxy images :)



Thanks Greg, this LRGB stuff isn't easy! :lol:

[willik]

One the best Andy
Martin

[Andy01]

Thanks Martin, that’s very kind of you- stepping up the gear a level has helped a lot- still lots to learn though :thumbsup: