Sombrero Galaxy (M104)
Galaxy · Spiral, edge-on
The Sombrero Galaxy has a brilliant bulge of stars and a dark lane of dust around its edge, making it look like a wide-brimmed hat. It was one of the galaxies that revealed the universe is expanding.
- 31 million light-years awayEven light – the fastest thing there is – needs 31 million years to get here.
- ~1 billion × SunBlack hole
- VirgoConstellation
Take a closer look
Thousands of Star Balls
The Sombrero is surrounded by around 2,000 globular clusters – tight balls of hundreds of thousands of ancient stars. Our Milky Way has only about 150. They swarm around the galaxy’s huge, bright bulge of old, yellowish stars like bees around a hive.
A Hat Seen Side-On
We see the Sombrero almost exactly edge-on, tilted only about 6 degrees. That is why its ring of dust lies across the glowing middle like the brim of a hat. If we could see it from above, it would look like a bright ball circled by a dark hoop.
A Quiet Ring of Dust
The Sombrero’s dusty ring is full of cold gas and dust, yet it makes surprisingly few new stars – unlike the busy Whirlpool. Infrared telescopes see the dust glowing softly, helping astronomers work out why some galaxies keep making stars while others slow down.
How we found out
- 1781
Pierre Méchain discovers it.
- 1912
Vesto Slipher measures that it is moving away from us at about 1,000 km/s – an early clue that the universe is expanding.
- 2024
The James Webb Space Telescope shows its dusty ring in infrared, looking like a glowing hoop.
Why would most galaxies be moving away from us?
Because space itself is expanding. It’s not that we are at the centre – every galaxy would see the others moving away. (Find out more in the final sector!)
See it yourself
Small telescope, in Virgo.
From the encyclopedia
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