Sombrero Galaxy (M104) Observation Details
M104 Daily Motion
M104 will rise before twilight begins, at 20:05, and will reach 38° elevation by the time twilight commences at 01:08. It will reach its transit at 38° by 01:24 and gradually fade away as the night ends at 06:12, maintaining an elevation of around 6°.M104 will be visible until June, 23, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M104 Visibility Timetable on April 03
M104 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 23.2% illuminated | 09:38 | -32° |
| M104 rise | 20:05 | |
| Civil sunset | 20:25 | 4° |
| Astrosession begin | 21:30 | 15° |
| M104 transit | 01:24 | 38° |
| Moon Set | 01:46 | 38° |
| Astrosession end | 05:39 | 12° |
| M104 set | 06:44 |
Track M104 Position Throughout the Night
← Thu, 3 April 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M104 - Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M104 is known for its bright central bulge and prominent dust lane, giving it the appearance of a sombrero hat.
M104 spans about 50,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 29 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.0, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M104 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M104
| Object name | M104 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M104 coordinates | 12.66651, -11.62306 |
| Center coordinates | 12.66651, -11.62306 |
M104 Passage Through Night
Current position of M104
| Time | 01:08 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M104 elevation | 38° |
| M104 Azimuth | -175° |
Annual motion of M104
| Date | Fri, 4 April 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 21:31 |
| Twighlight end | 05:36 |
| Twighlight duration | 8h 5m |
| Rise | 20:01 |
| Set | 06:40 |
| Elevation at transit | 38° |
| Transit time | 01:20 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 12h 39m 59s", Dec: -11° 37' 23s |
| Magnitude | 9 |
| Constellation | Virgo |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M104 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.