Sombrero Galaxy Ditches Its Hat For A Cosmic Bullseye In Stunning Webb Image
In Webb’s image of M104, the signature, glowing core seen in visible-light images does not shine. Instead, a smooth inner disk is revealed. Another aspect of M104 that Webb brings into focus is its outer ring, providing insights into how the dust, which NASA says is an essential building block for astronomical objects in the universe, is distributed. In previous images, the outer ring appeared smooth, like a blanket. However, in Webb’s image it shows intricate clumps in the infrared for the first time.
Researchers believe the clumpy nature of the dust can indicate the presence of young star-forming regions. However, the Sombrero galaxy is not known as being a particular hotbed of star formation. NASA says the rings of the Sombrero galaxy produce less than one solar mass of stars per year, in comparison to the Milky Way’s nearly two solar masses a year.
NASA says even the supermassive black hole, which comes in at a hefty 9-billion solar masses, at the center of M104 is on the calm side. It is classified as a low luminosity active galactic nucleus, which slowly snacks on infalling material from the galaxy, while beaming a relatively small, but bright jet.
In Webb’s MIRI image, galaxies of varying shapes and colors litter the background. Each color tells astronomers about their properties, including how far away they are. The Sombrero galaxy, for instance, is roughly 30 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo constellation.
Images from Webb like those of the Sombrero galaxy are just a few reasons why scientists and astronomers from around the world have applied for observation time with Webb during its fourth year of observations, which begins in July 2025.
