M104 The Sombrero Galaxy

Not a very good rendition of M104 the Sombrero galaxy in Virgo but I'll post anyway.

36 minutes total time, taken unguided due to lack of guide stars available and after re-greasing the Titan mount and adjusting backlash. I had a short window of time for capture with a gap of sky between an oak tree due south and my house. Along with that, the galaxy was 32 deg. up right in the swamp of Philadelphia's light dome and it was still astronomical twilight (not that a non twilit sky would have been any better).

This was my first outing of 2026, delayed due to weather and family obligations.

M104 in Virgo

Type: Galaxy

Magnitude: 8

Spiral classification: SA(s)a

Apparent Size: 8' x 4'

Distance: 9.55 Mpc

Physical size: ~15 Kpc

Date acquired: June 5, 2026

Sky Brightness ~17.5 mag/arcsec^2

Ambient Temp: 77F / 25C

Camera: Starlight Xpress SX-694 (2x2 binning) 

Guider: Starlight Xpress Lodestar off-axis.

Scope: Astrotech AT10RC @F/8 (2000 mm)

Mount: Losmandy Titan w/Gemini-2

Filters: Astronomik L, R, G & B type 2c.

Exposures: L= 72 x 30 sec

Acquired, calibrated, stacked (Sigma) in Astroart 9

Processing Notes:

Calibrated with Flats, Bias & Defect Map

Compress Stars

Gradient removal

DDP

Denoise