Deep image of the Sombrero Galaxy and a swarm of globular clusters

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Hi All,

Following on from my recent dabbling in globular clusters I decided to expand my globular collection slightly
I gathered some more data for my Sombrero galaxy image and managed to identify 136 globular clusters around it, with some down to magnitude 22+.
In the background numerous distant galaxies can be seen, many of them clumped together in groups. Also, what appears to be a faint tidal tail of the Sombrero is visible near the middle of the bottom edge of the image (between globulars #82 and #99). This is likely an ancient remnant trail of a captured dwarf galaxy.

Link to annotated full res image (1MB) is here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/143968106/original
(Including list with details of all 136 globulars)

Link to unannotated full res image (1MB) is here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/143968104/original

Image details:
Date: 19th April, 22nd and 24th May 2012
Exposure: LRGB: 210:17:17:17m, total 4hrs 21mins
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

About the image:
The Sombrero galaxy, or Messier 104, is a giant Sa type disk galaxy viewed from just above its equatorial plane and outlined by a prominent dark rim of obscuring dust. The central bulge is unusually bright and extended, and orbiting the galaxy is one of the largest known populations of globular clusters, containing up to 1900 members. In comparison our own Milky Way galaxy has only around 150-200 such clusters. Nearby prime examples of these are Omega Centauri, Messier 4 and NGC6752.
Highlighted in this image are 136 of the Sombrero's brightest globulars, ranging in V magnitudes from 17.5 to 22+. The names and magnitude details of these clusters are given in the table (from SIMBAD). Some of these globulars are very large and one is classified as a separate Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxy, SUCD1, the closest known example of such an object. It is not known how the Sombrero amassed such a large number of globular clusters. This is normally a more typical feature of large elliptical galaxies. For example up to 12,000 globular clusters are orbiting the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87.
The Sombrero Galaxy also contains a supermassive black hole of one billion solar masses - one of the most massive black holes among nearby galaxies. The galaxy lies some 30 million light years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo.

Hope you enjoy it. This was certainly a fun project, though surprisingly laborious to mark and match all these faint clusters.
Comments and critique welcome as usual.

Regards,
Rolf

[Octane (Humayun)]

Wow, looking fantastic!

H

[RobF (Rob)]

Top stuff Rolf. Way beyond anyone else's Sombrero mapping notes I believe (Mike?). I'm not really familiar with Simbad - how the heck did you get it to cough up the detail for those globs by the way? When I look up M104 I don't see that data linked ?

[alpal]

What great work you have acomplished.
That's a really interesting set of photos.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Well done!! Who would have thought there were so many?

[Forgey (Paula)]

Fantastic work Rolf !

[Liz]

Wow, fabulous stuff Rolf!!

[jsmoraes (Jorge)]

Very good work. Excellent idea mark the clusters. I never saw one like. Congratulations

[ngcles]

Hi Rolf & All,

Wow, that is quite incredible. Congratulations.

Best,

Les D

[multiweb (Marc)]

Excellent work and presentation Rolf. Kudos to you.

[Dennis]

I love these cosmic gems that you continue to dazzle us with; top work Rolf, a fabulous write up and excellent images.

Cheers

Dennis

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

Amazing image.

The Ultra-Compact Dwarf (UCD) galaxy is extremely obvious!

This new type of object was only first described in the year 2000, though there is some dispute as to who noticed them first..... and when.

"ultra-compact dwarf" is the exact way that the discoverers usually refer to these objects. But I suppose the dash in the name is somewhat unnecessary.

At least, the publication in the scientific literature, as a new type of galaxy, dates to the year 2000.

The newness of this discovery should make us aware that deep amateur images like Rolf's could well be hiding other surprises!

Here is a paper on UCD galaxies, illustrating how they compare to globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies:

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Originally Posted by madbadgalaxyman

Amazing image.

The Ultra-Compact Dwarf (UCD) galaxy is extremely obvious!

Sorry, but I'm a but thick; ..which one is the UCD???

Richard the dim (mag 22.2).

[Paul Haese]

Lovely image Rolf, heaps of detail and great colour. If there were anything to critique it is the noise. Get that under control and this is one hell of an image. Love the detail in the dust lanes. One imaging target I keep missing each year, you have made me put this higher up the list. Well done.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Great stuff Rolf, you've got detail and depth there - no need to be aesthetically perfect IMO as seeing such info is much more interesting . Excellent to know there are that many globs around M104 I knew there were a few...

I don't think that is the tidal tail at the bottom though, I think that is a faint irregular dwarf galaxy? The tidal tail is lower down

I got my less extensive GC list straight from another image someone had compiled rather than from Simbad. Of course my full frame is a much larger field and we seem to have gone about as deep as each other (Mag 22 - wow!) so I'd be interested to know how many globs are in my field now I'll PM you

Mike

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by bkm2304

Sorry, but I'm a but thick; ..which one is the UCD???

Richard the dim (mag 22.2).

Daahhh, me too, .

Is it No. 36 or 75?

Oh, yeah, good work too, Rolf!

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Daahhh, found it! It's listed in the first link!

It is No. 75!

I was close, real close.

Rolf, this image and list will proove quite handy when trying to visually nail any of these beasties! Fantastic excuse to NEED to get a bigger scope. So cool!!!!!!!!

[John Hothersall]

Thats great work picking up GC's so faint down to 22nd mag and a comprehensive list, this galaxy is rather unusual with several thousand GC unlike the Milkyways 158!

John.

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Well done and creative to pull out the very fine detail. Nice work.

Steve

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

An impressive achievement to say the least.

Cheers

Steve