M104 is located in the constellation of Virgo. As we see it from Earth, the galaxy is almost edge on, being approx. six degrees from its equatorial plane. Obviously named The Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat.
Being relatively bright at magnitude  8,  M104 is just outside naked eye visibility, so is easily viewed through small telescopes. The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies, being one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth. Embedded in the bright core of M104 is a smaller disk, tilted relative to the larger disk. X-ray emission suggests that there is material falling into the compact core, where a 1-billion-solar-mass black hole resides.

 Conditions- When the luminance was taken, seeing was poor but the transparency was very good due to the damp / dewy conditions. Colour channels were taken over three nights due to high cloud and frontal cloud moving in on these nights.