Galaxies

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The Sombrero Galaxy and a Swarm of Globular Clusters (annotated)

The Sombrero galaxy, or Messier 104, is a giant Sa type disk galaxy viewed from just above its equatorial plane and outlined by a prominent dark rim of obscuring dust.
The central bulge is unusually bright and extended, and orbiting the galaxy is one of the largest known populations of globular clusters, containing up to 1900 members. In comparison our own Milky Way galaxy has only around 150-200 such clusters. Nearby prime examples of these are Omega Centauri, Messier 4 and NGC6752.

Highlighted in this image are 136 of the Sombrero's brightest globulars, ranging in V magnitudes from 17.5 to 22+. The names and magnitude details of these clusters are given below (from SIMBAD). Some of these globulars are very large and one is classified as a separate Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxy, SUCD1, the closest known example of such an object. It is not known how the Sombrero amassed such a large number of globular clusters. This is normally a more typical feature of large elliptical galaxies. For example up to 12,000 globular clusters are orbiting the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87.

The Sombrero Galaxy also contains a supermassive black hole of one billion solar masses - one of the most massive black holes among nearby galaxies.
The galaxy lies some 30 million light years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo.

In the background numerous distant galaxies can be seen, many of then clumped together in groups. Also, what appears to be a faint dwarf galaxy of the Sombrero is visible near the middle of the bottom edge of the image (between globulars #82 and #99).

Image details:
Date: 19th April, 22nd and 24th May 2012
Exposure: LRGB: 210:17:17:17m, total 4hrs 21mins
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

List of all globular clusters visible in the image:

	Type	Name	RA	Dec	Mag_B	Mag_V	Mag_R
1	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1154	12 40 37.04	-11 29 27.0	20.10	19.44	18.93
2	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1164	12 40 36.77	-11 30 25.8	21.02	20.46	20.03
3	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 997	12 40 41.23	-11 34 33.0	19.95	19.18	18.64
4	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1045	12 40 39.82	-11 36 55.1	20.43	19.67	19.19
5	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1255	12 40 34.76	-11 38 10.2	20.54	19.81	19.30
6	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1430	12 40 29.82	-11 33 40.0	20.88	20.19	19.72
7	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1771	12 40 21.24	-11 36 31.9	21.57	20.82	20.31
8	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-26	12 40 16.559	-11 33 18.62
9	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2086	12 40 14.64	-11 31 55.5	20.20	19.48	18.98
10	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-21	12 40 11.618	-11 33 05.49
11	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-19	12 40 10.315	-11 32 46.64
12	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2449	12 40 08.09	-11 33 11.1	20.45	19.69	19.16
13	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-14	12 40 09.149	-11 33 28.74
14	GlCl	[BAZ97] 2-11	12 40 08.433	-11 33 58.15	21.40	20.89	20.42
15	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2358	12 40 09.760	-11 35 21.45	21.32	20.51	19.96
16	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2148	12 40 13.48	-11 35 51.3	21.50	20.79	20.33
17	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2021	12 40 15.58	-11 36 21.0	20.86	20.19	19.73
18	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2289	12 40 10.911	-11 35 55.56	21.09	20.51	20.09
19	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2129	12 40 13.79	-11 37 02.4	20.66	19.91	19.41
20	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2307	12 40 10.597	-11 36 46.20	21.18	20.25	19.71
21	GlCl	[DKV2003] X114	12 40 10.4	-11 36 39
22	GlCl	[DKV2003] X113	12 40 09.7	-11 36 45
23	GlCl	[DKV2003] X112	12 40 09.5	-11 36 47
24	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2363	12 40 09.73	-11 36 22.6	20.14	19.45	18.97
25	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2491	12 40 07.431	-11 35 52.27	21.24	20.49	19.99
26	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2512	12 40 07.08	-11 36 04.7	20.59	19.67	19.09
27	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2551	12 40 06.237	-11 36 47.96	21.44	20.40	19.83
28	GlCl	[BAZ97] 1-11	12 40 04.890	-11 36 22.45	21.35	20.71	20.26
29	GlCl	[LFB2001] C-068	12 40 03.21	-11 36 04.4	21.20	20.36	19.81
30	GlCl	[LFB2001] C-051	12 40 01.58	-11 36 16.9	22.12	21.30	20.71
31	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-7	12 40 04.615	-11 35 36.91
32	GlCl	[DKV2003] X104	12 40 05.3	-11 35 00
33	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2666	12 40 03.66	-11 34 50.1	20.62	19.76	19.21
34	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-6	12 40 02.818	-11 34 38.03
35	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-9	12 40 04.930	-11 34 04.78
36	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2743	12 40 02.26	-11 33 14.1	19.22	18.65	18.31
37	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-8	12 40 03.572	-11 32 42.52
38	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2576	12 40 05.65	-11 32 29.5	21.00	20.38	19.91
39	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2863	12 40 00.16	-11 32 27.7	20.20	19.36	18.81
40	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2985	12 39 57.62	-11 31 25.0	20.20	19.28	18.68
41	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2748	12 40 02.20	-11 30 26.8	20.61	19.87	19.39
42	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-29	12 39 57.308	-11 33 02.45
43	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3075	12 39 55.44	-11 33 24.2	20.53	19.81	19.34
44	GlCl	[DKV2003] X65	12 39 59.752	-11 34 55.42	21.48	20.89	20.40
45	GlCl	[DKV2003] X76	12 40 00.635	-11 35 20.35	21.28	20.55	20.05
46	GlCl	[DKV2003] X63	12 39 59.7	-11 35 25
47	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2916	12 39 58.95	-11 35 22.6	20.27	19.53	19.01
48	GlCl	[DKV2003] X26	12 39 55.84	-11 34 48.4	20.46	19.46	18.85
49	GlCl	[DKV2003] X122	12 40 15.345	-11 37 35.52	21.49	20.62	20.00
50	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-1	12 40 16.519	-11 38 01.39
51	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2200	12 40 12.388	-11 38 13.01	21.11	20.44	19.97
52	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2242	12 40 11.571	-11 38 15.30	20.96	20.35	19.91
53	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2109	12 40 14.047	-11 38 39.25	21.32	20.50	19.96
54	GlCl	[DKV2003] X119	12 40 12.9	-11 39 03
55	GlCl	[BAZ97] 1-29	12 40 13.520	-11 39 12.92	22.05	20.97	20.30
56	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-20	12 40 13.541	-11 39 19.37
57	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-17	12 40 11.393	-11 38 54.32
58	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1638	12 40 24.74	-11 39 50.7	20.50	19.56	18.95
59	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-28	12 40 19.805	-11 39 59.44
60	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2038	12 40 15.31	-11 40 12.7	20.08	19.33	18.84
61	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 1233	12 40 35.37	-11 41 36.6	22.33	21.41	20.83
62	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-23	12 40 17.192	-11 41 31.59
63	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-9	12 40 15.379	-11 41 53.70
64	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2237	12 40 11.668	-11 41 57.40	21.24	20.54	20.06
65	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-36	12 40 11.506	-11 42 39.88
66	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-40	12 40 02.726	-11 41 44.05
67	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-10	12 40 12.205	-11 40 48.85
68	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-21	12 40 11.016	-11 40 53.47
69	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2257	12 40 11.308	-11 39 43.96	21.52	20.82	20.35
70	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2303	12 40 10.77	-11 40 00.6	20.72	20.02	19.56
71	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2421	12 40 08.65	-11 39 30.8	20.77	19.85	19.28
72	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-22	12 40 07.299	-11 39 24.28
73	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2544	12 40 06.317	-11 40 14.21	21.91	21.10	20.57
74	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2637	12 40 04.371	-11 40 19.22	21.77	20.86	20.33
75	Galaxy	SUCD 1	12 40 03.13	-11 40 04.3	18.00	17.46	16.50
76	GlCl	[DKV2003] X85	12 40 01.4	-11 40 10
77	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-24	12 40 00.970	-11 39 40.63
78	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2777	12 40 01.512	-11 39 04.77	21.82	20.95	20.39
79	GlCl	[BAZ97] 2-15	12 40 02.949	-11 38 46.79	21.65	20.90	20.39
80	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2316	12 40 10.52	-11 45 20.4	21.17	20.31	19.77
81	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2475	12 40 07.68	-11 46 04.8	20.75	20.02	19.56
82	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 2832	12 40 00.59	-11 44 56.0	20.69	19.77	19.17
83	GlCl	[DKV2003] X24	12 39 55.4	-11 38 49
84	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3064	12 39 55.73	-11 39 32.3	21.21	20.30	19.74
85	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3093	12 39 55.07	-11 39 28.6	20.98	20.28	19.80
86	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-30	12 39 53.275	-11 39 53.12
87	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3101	12 39 54.699	-11 40 36.97	21.92	20.97	20.38
88	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-38	12 39 54.849	-11 41 10.74
89	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-43	12 39 53.003	-11 38 42.91
90	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3173	12 39 52.808	-11 39 11.84	21.66	21.00	20.52
91	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3284	12 39 50.781	-11 38 55.29	21.92	21.11	20.63
92	GlCl	[DKV2003] X15	12 39 51.1	-11 38 34
93	GlCl	[DKV2003] X12	12 39 50.9	-11 38 23
94	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3320	12 39 50.13	-11 38 28.9	20.45	19.54	18.99
95	GlCl	[DKV2003] X7	12 39 45.610	-11 39 33.64	20.43	19.47	18.85
96	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-32	12 39 48.276	-11 40 37.21
97	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-18	12 39 48.267	-11 41 27.54
98	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3394	12 39 48.09	-11 42 08.4	20.68	19.96	19.49
99	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3246	12 39 51.41	-11 44 06.4	21.23	20.60	20.17
100	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3638	12 39 42.75	-11 42 48.0	21.05	20.38	19.91
101	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-23	12 39 42.109	-11 41 19.24
102	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3676	12 39 41.952	-11 40 59.97	22.26	21.29	20.71
103	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-27	12 39 39.493	-11 40 51.79
104	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3892	12 39 37.77	-11 40 30.7	20.48	19.57	18.99
105	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-18	12 39 43.492	-11 39 31.28
106	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-22	12 39 41.535	-11 39 45.91
107	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-42	12 39 39.781	-11 39 39.90
108	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3680	12 39 41.98	-11 38 27.1	20.18	19.47	18.99
109	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3873	12 39 38.14	-11 38 38.5	20.85	20.16	19.70
110	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3987	12 39 35.63	-11 38 30.1	20.17	19.51	19.03
111	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4303	12 39 27.74	-11 41 11.7	20.71	19.91	19.39
112	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4158	12 39 31.48	-11 36 34.9	22.08	21.37	20.94
113	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4206	12 39 30.18	-11 36 13.7	20.41	19.71	19.25
114	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3575	12 39 44.014	-11 37 30.47	21.59	20.75	20.17
115	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-25	12 39 43.405	-11 37 32.01
116	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3461	12 39 46.61	-11 36 50.6	20.71	19.68	19.10
117	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-41	12 39 43.699	-11 36 52.80
118	GlCl	[DKV2003] X3	12 39 43.1	-11 36 44
119	GlCl	[DKV2003] X20	12 39 54.6	-11 36 02
120	GlCl	[BAZ97] 2-7	12 39 54.007	-11 36 05.82	21.38	20.52	19.95
121	GlCl	[BAZ97] 2-16	12 39 52.814	-11 36 18.66	21.19	20.77	20.47
122	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3222	12 39 51.89	-11 36 27.1	20.65	19.89	19.37
123	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3191	12 39 52.300	-11 35 41.33	21.29	20.41	19.85
124	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3357	12 39 49.281	-11 34 35.54	21.39	20.73	20.27
125	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-34	12 39 47.312	-11 34 52.72
126	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 2-27	12 39 49.349	-11 33 21.42
127	GlCl?	[BAZ97] 1-31	12 39 42.122	-11 33 17.86
128	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3965	12 39 36.08	-11 34 08.6	21.28	20.65	20.21
129	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3667	12 39 42.089	-11 35 24.22	22.14	21.31	20.78
130	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3835	12 39 38.91	-11 35 12.2	21.13	20.47	20.00
131	GlCl	[DKV2003] X4	12 39 44.2	-11 36 01
132	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 3728	12 39 41.122	-11 36 09.11	21.37	20.69	20.25
133	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4108	12 39 32.74	-11 30 31.2	20.92	20.18	19.67
134	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4247	12 39 29.37	-11 29 33.3	20.31	19.65	19.20
135	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4682	12 39 18.51	-11 30 57.5	20.84	20.16	19.68
136	GlCl	[RZ2004] GCl 4966	12 39 11.62	-11 34 00.6	20.39	19.73	19.24

Ordering prints

Galaxies

List of all globular clusters visible in the image: