OT - Just released picture from Hubble telescope

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Just released picture from Hubble telescope

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http://heritage.stsci.edu/2003/28/

Hubble Mosaic of the Magestic Sombrero Galaxy

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the

universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier

104 (M104). The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled

by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen

from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six

degrees south of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the

Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican

hat.

 

At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of

naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small telescopes. The Sombrero

lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of

the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The

galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from

Earth.

 

Hubble easily resolves M104's rich system of globular clusters, estimated to be

nearly 2,000 in number -- 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The

ages of the clusters are similar to the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from

10-15 billion years old. Embedded in the bright core of M104 is a smaller disk,

which is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission suggests that there

is material falling into the compact core, where a 1-billion-solar-mass black

hole resides.

 

In the 19th century, some astronomers speculated that M104 was simply an edge-on

disk of luminous gas surrounding a young star, which is prototypical of the

genesis of our solar system. But in 1912, astronomer V. M. Slipher discovered

that the hat-like object appeared to be rushing away from us at 700 miles per

second. This enormous velocity offered some of the earliest clues that the

Sombrero was really another galaxy, and that the universe was expanding in all

directions.

 

The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space

telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters

(red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six

pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final

composite image. One of the largest Hubble mosaics ever assembled, this

magnificent galaxy is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full moon.

 

Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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