As a part of ESA/Hubble’s thirty fifth anniversary celebrations, the European Area Company (ESA) is sharing a brand new picture sequence revisiting gorgeous, beforehand launched Hubble targets with the addition of the newest Hubble knowledge and new processing strategies.
ESA/Hubble printed a brand new picture of NGC 346 as the primary installment within the sequence. Now, they’re revisiting a fan-favorite galaxy with new picture processing strategies. The brand new picture reveals finer element within the galaxy’s disk, in addition to extra background stars and galaxies.
Over the previous twenty years, Hubble has launched a number of pictures of the Sombrero Galaxy, together with this well-known Hubble picture from October 2003. In November 2024, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Area Telescope additionally offered an fully new perspective on this hanging galaxy.
Situated round 30 million light-years away within the constellation Virgo, the Sombrero Galaxy is immediately recognizable. Considered almost edge on, the galaxy’s softly luminous bulge and sharply outlined disk resemble the rounded crown and broad brim of the Mexican hat from which the galaxy will get its title.
NASA/ESA Hubble Area Telescope picture of the Sombrero Galaxy, additionally known as Messier 104.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, Ok. Noll
Although filled with stars, the Sombrero Galaxy is surprisingly not a hotbed of star formation. 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 simply too faint to identify with the unaided eye, however it’s readily viewable with a modest novice 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 simply too giant to suit inside Hubble’s slim area of view, so this picture is definitely a mosaic of a number of pictures 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 troublesome to discern the construction of the Sombrero Galaxy. 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 like 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 elements resembles neither a spiral nor an elliptical galaxy.
Researchers used Hubble to research the Sombrero Galaxy, measuring the metals (what astronomers name parts heavier than helium) in stars within the galaxy’s expansive halo. This kind of measurement can assist astronomers higher perceive a galaxy’s historical past, doubtlessly revealing whether or not it merged with different galaxies prior to now. Within the case of the Sombrero Galaxy, extraordinarily metal-rich stars within the halo level to a potential merger with a large galaxy a number of billion years in the past. An historic galactic conflict, hinted at by Hubble’s delicate measurements, might clarify the Sombrero Galaxy’s distinctive look.
The Hubble Area Telescope has been working for over three many years and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that form our basic understanding of the universe. Hubble is a challenge of worldwide cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Area Company). NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Area, primarily based in Denver, additionally helps mission operations at Goddard. The Area Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Affiliation of Universities for Analysis in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.