In anticipation of the upcoming 35th anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Hubble workforce has launched a beautiful new image of the Sombrero galaxy, often known as Messier 104.
This Hubble picture exhibits Messier 104, a galaxy situated 28 million light-years away within the constellation of Virgo. Picture credit score: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Okay. Noll.
Messier 104 is situated roughly 28 million light-years away within the constellation of Virgo.
Also referred to as the Sombrero galaxy, M104 or NGC 4594, this galaxy was discovered on Could 11, 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain.
It has a diameter of roughly 49,000 light-years — about 3 occasions smaller than our Milky Manner Galaxy.
Messier 104 has a really huge central bulge and hosts a supermassive black gap.
We see the galaxy edge-on, at an angle of 6 levels south of its aircraft. Its darkish mud lane dominates the view.
Over the previous 20 years, Hubble has launched a number of photos of Messier 104, together with this well-known image from October 2003.
“Although full of stars, the Sombrero galaxy is surprisingly not a hotbed of star formation,” the Hubble astronomers mentioned in an announcement.
“Lower than one photo voltaic mass of fuel is transformed into stars throughout the knotted, dusty disk of the galaxy every year.”
“Even the galaxy’s central supermassive black gap, which at 9 billion photo voltaic plenty is greater than 2,000 occasions extra huge than the Milky Manner’s central black gap, is pretty calm.”
“The galaxy is just too faint to identify with the unaided eye, however it’s readily viewable with a modest newbie telescope.”
“Seen from Earth, the galaxy spans a distance equal to roughly one-third the diameter of the complete Moon.”
“The galaxy’s dimension on the sky is just too massive to suit inside Hubble’s slim area of view, so this picture is definitely a mosaic of a number of photos stitched collectively.”
“One of many issues that makes this galaxy particularly notable is its viewing angle, which is inclined simply six levels off of the galaxy’s equator.”
“From this vantage level, intricate clumps and strands of mud stand out in opposition to the good white galactic nucleus and bulge, creating an impact not in contrast to Saturn and its rings — however on an epic galactic scale.”
“On the identical time, this excessive angle makes it tough to discern the construction of the Sombrero galaxy,” they mentioned.
“It’s not clear whether or not it’s a spiral galaxy, like our personal Milky Manner, or an elliptical galaxy.”
“Curiously, the galaxy’s disk looks as if a reasonably typical disk for a spiral galaxy, and its spheroidal bulge and halo appear pretty typical for an elliptical galaxy — however the mixture of the 2 parts resembles neither a spiral nor an elliptical galaxy.”
