Webb telescope reveals stunning new detail of Sombrero Galaxy
Scientists have named the Sombrero Galaxy for its resemblance to a Mexican hat. It is located 30 million light-years from Earth. Thanks to new images from the space telescope, we can now take a closer look at its structure.
10:02 AM EST, December 2, 2024
NASA has released a new image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. This time, it captured the Messier 104 Galaxy (M104), previously photographed by the Hubble Telescope, and was named the Sombrero Galaxy by scientists due to its distinctive shape. The Webb Telescope presented us with an image using blue, green, and red light filters.
Both the images from Webb and Hubble allow us to see the characteristic, clumpy structure of dust forming the outer ring of the Sombrero Galaxy. However, the picture taken by the Webb Telescope is more detailed.
The galaxy is depicted as a very elongated, blue disk, stretched from left to right at an angle, with a bright core at the center. The inner disk is clearly outlined, and star dots can be seen. The outer disk is white-blue and clumpy, somewhat resembling Earth's clouds.
The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in the 18th century
The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer and surveyor Pierre Méchain as early as 1781. It was not included in the original printed version of the Messier catalog, but Méchain added it by hand to his private copy. However, researchers didn't officially catalog it as Messier M104 until 1921.
