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The Sombrero Galaxy in Visible, Infrared, and Composite
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye."
In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring.
Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions.
The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun.
The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features.
The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon.
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.12h 39m 59.42s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.-11° 37' 23.0"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Virgo
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.28 million light-years (9 megaparsecs)
- DimensionsDimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.This image is roughly 10 arcminutes (82,000 light-years or 25,000 parsecs) wide.
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.The Hubble data for this image was created from data from HST program 9714: K. Noll, H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, Z. Levay, and T. Royle (STScI). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>ACS/WFC and SST
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.May - June 2003 (HST), and June 2004 and January 2005 (SST)
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.HST: F435W (B), F555W (V), F625W (r) SST: 3.6 microns, 4.5 microns, 5.8 microns, and 8.0 microns
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Sombrero Galaxy, M104, NGC 4594
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Edge-on Spiral Galaxy
- Release DateOctober 2, 2003
- Science ReleaseHeritage Project Celebrates Five Years of Harvesting the Best Images from Hubble Space Telescope
- Credits
Hubble image Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: F625W (r) Spitzer image Blue: 3.6 microns Green: 4.5 microns Orange: 5.8 microns Red: 8.0 microns
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
