The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, is a striking spiral galaxy recognized for its almost edge-on orientation. Its thick ring of dark dust lanes, silhouetted against a luminous central bulge of stars, gives it a shape reminiscent of a sombrero hat. This galaxy’s iconic appearance, paired with the presence of a large central black hole, makes it one of the most captivating objects in the night sky.

This starless portrait of the galaxy was captured by a Planewave CDK24 telescope at El Sauce Observatory in Chile. It combines red, green, and blue channels with luminance data to create a detailed and natural representation of the nebula.

The raw data was curated by a remote telescope service and then combined, calibrated, and processed by Richard Leighton to produce the final image.