The Sombrero Galaxy from VLT
Why does the Sombrero Galaxy look like a
hat?
Reasons include the
Sombrero's unusually large and
extended central bulge of stars,
and dark prominent
dust lanes
that appear in a disk that we see nearly edge-on.
Billions of old stars cause the diffuse glow of the extended
central bulge.
Close inspection of the bulge in the above photograph shows many points of light that are actually
globular clusters.
M104's spectacular dust rings harbor many younger and brighter stars,
and show intricate details astronomers
don't yet fully understand.
The very center of the
Sombrero glows across the electromagnetic spectrum, and is thought to house a large
black hole.
Fifty million-year-old light from the
Sombrero Galaxy can be seen with a
small telescope towards the constellation of Virgo.