Sombrero Galaxy

The Sombrero Galaxy (also called M104 or NGC 4594) is a striking spiral galaxy located about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It gets its name because it looks like a Mexican sombrero hat when viewed from Earth. The bright central bulge and the dark ring of dust around it create that distinctive shape. Some key facts: Type: Spiral galaxy (sometimes classified as an unbarred spiral) Diameter: About 50,000 light-years across Stars: Roughly 800 billion stars — much more than the Milky Way Central black hole: Contains a supermassive black hole estimated at about 1 billion solar masses Best-known feature: Its dramatic dark dust lane encircling the bright core Astronomers study the Sombrero Galaxy because its structure is unusual: it has characteristics of both spiral and elliptical galaxies. It was discovered in 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain and later included in the Messier catalog by Charles Messier.