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Astronomy Picture of the Day- Government shutdown so no APOD Today. I will dig up some of my favorites - M104: The Sombrero Galaxy (by request)
NASA ^ | 29 Mar, 2019 | Image Data: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Processing & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (DeepSky

Posted on 10/18/2025 11:58:47 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: 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 central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, The Sombrero Galaxy. Hubble Space Telescope data have been used to create this sharp view of the well-known galaxy. The processing results in a natural color appearance and preserves details often lost in overwhelming glare of M104's bright central bulge when viewed with smaller ground-based telescopes. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum and is host to 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.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

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1 posted on 10/18/2025 11:58:47 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/18/2025 11:59:03 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

πŸͺ 🌟 🌌 πŸ”

3 posted on 10/18/2025 12:00:04 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The Sombrero is always a favorite!


4 posted on 10/18/2025 12:42:28 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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