Messier 104
Explanation:
A gorgeous spiral galaxy,
Messier 104 is famous
for its nearly
edge-on
profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes.
Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars,
the swath of
cosmic dust lends a
broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting
a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy.
This
sharp view
of the well-known galaxy was made
from over 10 hours of
Hubble
Space Telescope
image data, processed to
bring out faint details often lost in the overwhelming glare of M104's
bright central bulge.
Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen
across the spectrum, and
is host to a central
supermassive black hole.
About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away,
M104 is one of the
largest galaxies at the southern edge of the
Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
Still, the spiky foreground stars in this field of view
lie well within our own Milky Way.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
