Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy
Also M104 · NGC 4594
A galaxy with a bright bulge and a dark dust lane, resembling a broad-brimmed hat.
Measured
- Distance
- about 31.1 million light-years (published estimates 30.1 million–32.2 million)
- Size
- about 105,000 light-years across (approximate)
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Position (J2000)
- RA 12h 39m 59s, Dec −11.62°
- Its central black hole
- about 660 million Suns; its shadow 10.1 billion km across
How far, from the Sun
About 31.1 million light-years. To cross it:
- Light31.1 million years
- Voyager 1's speed553 billion years
- Driving at 100 km/h336 trillion years
Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.
Facts
- Its central black hole is about 660 million times the Sun's mass.
- Vesto Slipher measured it receding at about 1,000 km per second in 1912–13, an early clue to cosmic expansion.
How it was found
- Pierre Méchain discovered it in 1781.
Where this comes from
- McQuinn et al. 2016, AJ 152, 144, tip of the red giant branch (9.55 ± 0.31 Mpc)
Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.