Sombrero Galaxy (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as M 104 or NGC 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.The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in March of 1767 by Pierre Mchain, who described the object in a May 1767 letter to J. Bernoulli that was later published in the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch.