M104 is commonly call the Sombrero Galaxy due to it's appearance as a sombrero hat.  The galaxy lies approximately 40 million light years away and is approximately 130,000 light years in diameter.  It appears nearly edge on with a dark dust lane and stellar nucleus.  This image is an average of 24 2.5min integration's taken with a Starlight Express MX7C and Meade 8"LX200.  The image was acquired with Astroart and processed with AIP4WIN.  Total exposure time was 60min.