One of the most spectacular galaxies in Earth’s sky is the subject of a new image release to help celebrate 35 years of Hubble operations.
The Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104), located some 31 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo, is a strange galaxy, oriented in such a way that it appears even stranger – like a disk in the sky with a glowing center.
It’s what is known as a peculiar galaxy – one that has characteristics of both a highly structured spiral galaxy, and a more diffuse elliptical galaxy, thus fitting into neither category, but hanging about somewhere in between.
What makes it stand out from other galaxies is a large series of thick dust lanes in its galactic plane and around its outer perimeter that seem to give it a border, like the brim of a very fancy hat.
The galaxy was first observed by Hubble in 2003, and since then, that image has become one of the telescope’s most beloved shots. It’s that image that has now been reprocessed with new techniques, revealing more intricate details within the galaxy itself, and more stars faintly speckling the background.
Although the Sombrero Galaxy is very bright and full of stars, it is not particularly active in star formation, producing maybe one Sun’s worth of new stars per year. It’s a little bigger than the Milky Way, and a little hard to study because of its nearly edge-on orientation and extremely bright center.
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JWST observations in the mid-infrared show prominent clumpy dust around the outer edge, and a bright center with an active supermassive black hole, which clocks in at a mass of around 9 billion Suns.
The dust lanes around the galaxy’s outer reaches are part of its spiral structure. The brightly glowing bulge in the center is more consistent with an elliptical galaxy.
Whatever it is, its unique appearance makes it a favorite for both professional and amateur astronomers alike, and a true joy to behold.
You can download wallpaper-sized versions of the new image on the ESA Hubble website.
