Messier 104 (aka the Sombrero Galaxy) is a favorite sky view of mine. This picture was taken by the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2000.
Image Credit: ESO / P. Barthel
Acknowledgments: Mark Neeser (Kapteyn Institute, Groningen) and Richard Hook (ST/ECF, Garching, Germany).
Messier 104 is also known as the Sombrero Galaxy. Seen in visible light, it has has bright nucleus and a very large central bulge. We see it almost edge on, and its dark perimeter dust lanes and the bulge give it an appearance like a sombrero hat.
The picture above was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer’s infrared camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy (red in this false color image). Because this galaxy is seen nearly edge-on, only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in visible light. Spitzer’s view shows the disk is warped, probably the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy. It also reveals areas of new star formation on the far side of the ring.
Image Credit: NASA
The ring floating in the picture above is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it’s part of the Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The digitally enhanced image above shows the infrared glow as recorded by the Spitzer Space Telescope superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. A visible light image is shown below for comparison. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, is about 50,000 light years across and roughly 28 million light years away. It can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
Image Credits: NASA/Spitzer and NASA/Hubble
Video Credit: STScI
Video Credit: Deep Sky Videos
The galaxy’s dust and inner flat disk stand out when viewed using infrared light.
Video Credit: STSci
One of most famous spiral galaxies is Messier 104, aka The Sombrero Galaxy because of its particular shape its dominant nuclear bulge is composed mainly of mature stars. It is located in the constellation Virgo about 30 million light-years away. This luminous and massive galaxy has a total mass of about 800 billion time that of our Sun. from our point of vies it’s a nearly edge-on disc composed of stars, gas, and dust. The complexity of this dust is apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but also shows up in the dark absorbing lanes throughout the disc.
Image Credit: ESO
Video Credit: NASA
Video Credit: NASA
UPDATE—This is Hogewash! post number 10,000!
This is the eastern area of the Sombrero Galaxy, with the pronounced dust bands and many background galaxies.
Image Credit: ESO
One of most famous spiral galaxies is Messier 104, aka The Sombrero Galaxy because of its particular shape its dominant nuclear bulge is composed mainly of mature stars. It is located in the constellation Virgo about 30 million light-years away. This luminous and massive galaxy has a total mass of about 800 billion time that of our Sun. from our point of vies it’s a nearly edge-on disc composed of stars, gas, and dust. The complexity of this dust is apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but also shows up in the dark absorbing lanes throughout the disc.
Image Credit: ESO
The ring floating in the picture above is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it’s part of the Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The digitally enhanced image above shows the infrared glow as recorded by the Spitzer Space Telescope superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. A visible light image is shown below for comparison. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, is about 50,000 light years across and roughly 28 million light years away. It can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
Image Credits: NASA/Spitzer and NASA/Hubble