The Sombrero Galaxy, M104, NGC 4594 24 x 48, acrylic on canvas, c. 2010, $900.00

In the constellation Virgo, lying 11.5 degrees visually west of the star Spica, the Sombrero is a spiral galaxy that we see nearly edge-on. At a distance of about 28 million light-years from us, the Sombrero has a large glowing nucleus full of globular clusters--about ten times as many as orbit our own galaxy--and surrounded by prominent dust lanes. It's about 55,000 light years across. The Sombrero can be easily seen with binoculars, an approximately 8 inch telescope is needed to tell the central bulge apart from the disc, and the dust lane becomes visible with a 10-12 inch telescope.