The Sombrero Galaxy: New Webb versus Hubble & Spitzer Space Telescope Views
This video compares images of the Sombrero Galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104). The first image is in infrared light, and was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The second image shows the Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared look at the galaxy using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIDI). The final image shows visible light observed by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero galaxy, resolving the clumpy nature of the dust along the galaxy’s outer ring.
The mid-infrared light highlights the gas and dust that are part of star formation taking place among the Sombrero galaxy’s outer disk. The rings of the Sombrero galaxy produce less than one solar mass of stars per year, in comparison to the Milky Way’s roughly two solar masses a year. It is not a particular hotbed of star formation. The Sombrero galaxy is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.
Webb Image Description: Image of a galaxy on the black background of space. The galaxy is a very oblong, blue disk that extends from left to right at an angle (from about 10 o’clock to 5 o’clock). The galaxy has a small bright core at the center. There is an inner disk that is clearer, with speckles of stars scattered throughout. The outer disk of the galaxy is whiteish-blue, and clumpy, like clouds in the sky. There are different colored dots, distant galaxies, speckled among the black background of space surrounding the galaxy.
Release Date: Nov. 25, 2024
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