The Sombrero
The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) on the first page of
the left panel is actually an Sa spiral, but
it looks unusual because we see it edge-on. The large galactic bulge of gas and
dust (note also the many globular clusters) tells us that it is class Sa. It is
in Virgo, at a distance of about 18 Mpc. The Sombrero is the first object of the
modern Messier
catalog that did not appear in Messier's original published catalog, but Messier
himself added it later to the original by hand.