From his observatory in the city of Leiden, Netherlands, Kees Neve (Member 52,271) spotted Messier 104, a spiral galaxy located about 25 million light-years from Earth, in the Virgo constellation. The galaxy is approximately 29.09 to 32.32 kiloparsecs (94,900 to 105,000 light-years) across, making it slightly larger than the Milky Way. Its bright nucleus is surrounded by a prominent dust lane, an obscuring cloud of interstellar dust, hydrogen compounds, and carbon compounds. Because of its curious shape, Messier 104 is popularly known as the Sombrero Galaxy. As it’s facing Earth almost edge-on, it looks like a Mexican hat – flung with carefree exuberance into the far reaches of outer space.