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The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is one of the most iconic images in astronomy, with its glowing nuclear bulge split in two by the irregular dark gash that marks its central dust lane, looking like a cartoon flying saucer in the midst of its interstellar travels. It's also remarkably easy to find, following a trail of stars from Gamma Corvi, also called Gienah, the star at the top right corner of the constellation Corvus:
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Jaws M104 'I- Stargate •
5 degrees • .. E1664 , \ . .. ' . "' MI04
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• Ml04 Eyepiece View 10 field - unreversed North at top • Stars to mag 10 •
---'--~--- As the starhopping field circles show, the first five guide stars form a straight and easily-followed mag 6 7 path leading directly to an arrowhead-shaped trio of mag 6 stars. The arrowhead points to a wonderful asterism known as The 5targate, which is actually a six-part multiple star called Struve 1659, consisting of a small isosceles triangle centered within a larger equilateral triangle. One step farther along that line will bring you to a fainter (mag 8-9) four-part multiple, Struve 1664, that some observers see as a miniature version of the constellation Sagitta, or a tiny feather-tailed arrow whose shaft points directly at Ml04, which sits a third of a step to the east. Struve 1664 forms the gaping mouth and bared teeth of an asterism called Jaws because of its supposed resemblance to a shark, with its long body and extended dorsal fin - although I confess that I have never been able to see a shark in these stars. If they remind me of anything aquatic, it's a leaping dolphin, with Struve 1664 forming its tail.
Like most deep sky objects, Ml04 looks better and better with increasing aperture. While it's visible in most binoculars under a dark sky, you won't be able to do that in the suburbs. Even from a dark site, binoculars won't reveal The Sombrero's signature features, and they're probably the reason why you went hunting for it in the first place. So use the largest scope you have available, start with a magnification between SOx and 100x, and adjust the view from there until it looks best.
While you're in the neighborhood, swing your scope north into the body of Virgo and check out mag 2.7 double star Gamma Virginis (also called PorrimaL an evenly-balanced pair of mag 3.5 white F-spectrum stars that circle each other every 169 years. From roughly 1995 to 2010, the pair was too close to be split by most amateur-sized telescopes, but their separation has been increasing since 2005, and has now reached 2.8" - which can be split in most telescopes, using a magnification between 120x and 150x. They'll reach their maximum separation of 6" in 2090. So have a look, and see for yourself why this hauntingly beautiful pair is always near the top of every "best doubles in the sky" list. For a contrasting view, look 4.r NW of Gamma to find carbon star 55 Virginis, which forms a nearly-right triangle with Gamma and mag 3.4 Eta Virginis. Ranging in brightness from mag 6.0 to 8.6, SS Vir shows us a distinctly red color that contrasts nicely with the white stars in the surrounding field.
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.. 50 1- _ • • . : 1 +ss
-~~ -- Eta Gamma.-- Virgo
76 ° SS 87 \ 83 • \ \ • M104 • ------~~sPica \ o I 59 • _0 Eta· • • I i I ----~- • I I
Rick Gering / NAA Public Outreach SS Vir finder -- 5° field (unreversed) May 2019 Stars to mag 9 - mag shown, decimal omitted