Sombrero galaxy (M104) in Virgo

A fine example of a nearly edge on galaxy. This galaxy is abour 40 million light years away and likely one of the intrinsically brightes and most massive. It probably had a diameter of around 130,000 light years.

Note, the chain of three bright stars in the lower left of this image is the multiple star Sigma 1664.

Images taken with TEC-140 Telescope mounted on Losmandy G11 mount. Camera used was a Canon EOS20D used at prime focus.

Seventeen 3 minute exposures dark, flat, and bias compensated, aligned and stacked, background removed and Digitaly Developed in ImagesPlus 2.77 beta 2 and then processed through Neat Image to remove noise.