NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared

This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is part of the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy [ http://www.seds.org…], one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The dark band of dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy [ http://en.wikipedia…] in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The above image [ http://www.spitzer.…] shows the infrared [ http://imagers.gsfc…] glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope [ http://www.spitzer.…], superposed in false-color on an existing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in optical light. The Sombrero [ http://en.wikipedia…] Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years [ http://starchild.gs…] across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo [ http://www.seds.org…virgo.html ].

R. Kennicutt [ http://www.as.arizo…] (Steward Obs. [ http://www.as.arizo…]) et al. [ http://www.spitzer.…], SSC [ http://www.spitzer.…], JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa…], Caltech [ http://www.caltech.…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

Arizona

M104

Sombrero Galaxy

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Washington, D.C.

Stennis Space Center (SSC)

Virgo

Spitzer Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap070121