Webb Captures New Image of Sombrero Galaxy [View all]

Nov 25, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The sharp resolution of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) brings into focus details of the Sombrero galaxy’s outer ring, providing insights into how the dust is distributed.



This Webb image shows the Sombrero galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.


The Sombrero galaxy is located approximately 28 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Also known as Messier 104, M104 or NGC 4594, this spiral galaxy was discovered on May 11, 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain.

It has a diameter of approximately 49,000 light-years — about 3 times smaller than our Milky Way Galaxy. The Sombrero galaxy has a very massive central bulge and hosts a supermassive black hole.

We see the galaxy edge-on, at an angle of 6 degrees south of its plane. Its dark dust lane dominates the view.

“The clumpy nature of the dust, where MIRI detects carbon-containing molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can indicate the presence of young star-forming regions,” Webb astronomers said in a statement.

“However, unlike some galaxies studied with Webb, including Messier 82, where 10 times as many stars are born as in the Milky Way, the Sombrero galaxy is not a particular hotbed of star formation.”

More:
https://www.sci.news/astronomy/webb-image-sombrero-galaxy-13452.html