Fan Favourite: The Sombrero Galaxy
- Editor OGN Daily
- Apr 18
- 1 min read
The observable universe contains at least 100 billion galaxies, but humans have given only a handful of these galaxies catchy nicknames.
So tip your hat to the Sombrero Galaxy, the subject of a new Hubble Space Telescope image that shows off the galaxy’s unusual structure. The European Space Agency described the Sombrero Galaxy as a “fan favourite” this week in a statement. You need a telescope to see it, but it’s a popular target for amateur astronomers and professionals alike. The Hubble image is a mosaic of several images captured by the telescope.
The Sombrero - or Messier 104, to give it its official name - is located about 30 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo constellation. It is one of numerous notable cosmic objects originally documented by French astronomer Charles Messier over two hundred years ago.
Hubble's new image shows the Sombrero Galaxy nearly edge-on. “From this vantage point, intricate clumps and strands of dust stand out against the brilliant white galactic nucleus and bulge, creating an effect not unlike Saturn and its rings - but on an epic galactic scale,” ESA said.
Whilst the galaxy better resembles a gently glowing cosmic Frisbee, its nickname is a reference to the wide-brimmed Mexican sun.
Hubble has peered at the Sombrero Galaxy before, but this image uses new processing techniques to reveal “finer detail in the galaxy’s disc, as well as more background stars and galaxies.”
