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Webb Rounds Out Picture of Sombrero Galaxy's Disk
- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured new mid-infrared and near-infrared images of the Sombrero galaxy in late 2024 and early 2025.
- These observations followed centuries of study, beginning with the galaxy's first written record in 1781 and its inclusion in the Messier catalog in 1921.
- Webb's NIRCam and MIRI instruments have captured the Sombrero Galaxy’s outer ring, where clumps of dust obscure light from stars within the galaxy, while near the center, about 2,000 globular clusters—each containing hundreds of thousands of ancient stars bound by gravity—are prominently visible in infrared.
- The Sombrero galaxy lies about 30 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation and has a mass around 800 billion Suns, with its disk showing signs of a turbulent past likely caused by past galaxy mergers.
- These detailed multi-wavelength studies help astronomers better understand the galaxy's formation, structure, and the interactions of stars, dust, and gas over time.
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17 Articles
Webb Wears Two Hats to Photograph the Sombrero Galaxy
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) first photographed the Sombrero galaxy late last year. Months later, the $10 billion space telescope has set its sights back on the galaxy, this time at different wavelengths of light, completing a mind-bending photo of Sombrero's galactic disk.
Webb rounds out picture of Sombrero galaxy's disk
The Sombrero galaxy has long had a place in astronomical history as an intriguing object. The first written record of this galaxy was noted in 1781, almost 250 years ago, by Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer and surveyor. Méchain was a longtime collaborator of Charles Messier, of the Messier catalog fame.
A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope.
MoM-z14, a cosmic object that existed only 280 million years after the Big Bang, is the most distant star cluster observed.Its light took more than 13.5 billion years to reach Earth
Webb Sees Sombrero Galaxy in Near-Infrared Light
Using the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a new image of the Sombrero galaxy. The post Webb Sees Sombrero Galaxy in Near-Infrared Light appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
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