The Sombrero Galaxy's Split Personality
spitzer_ssc2012-06a April 24th, 2012
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
'The infrared vision of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that the Sombrero galaxy -- named after its appearance in visible light to a wide-brimmed hat -- is in fact two galaxies in one. It is a large elliptical galaxy (blue-green) with a thin disk galaxy (partly seen in red) embedded within. Previous visible-light images led astronomers to believe the Sombrero was simply a regular flat disk galaxy.
Spitzer's infrared view highlights the stars and dust. The starlight detected at 3.5 and 4.6 microns is represented in blue-green while the dust detected at 8.0 microns appears red. This image allowed astronomers to sample the full population of stars in the galaxy, in addition to its structure.
The flat disk within the galaxy is made up of two portions. The inner disk is composed almost entirely of stars, with no dust. Beyond this is a slight gap, then an outer ring of intermingled dust and stars, seen here in red.
Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope
Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5135-ssc2012-06a-The-Sombrero-Galaxy-s-Split-Personality
Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
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Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- ssc2012-06a
- Subject Category
- C.5.1.4. C.5.1.3. C.5.4.5. C.5.1.5.
- Subject Name
- Sombrero Galaxy, Messier 104, M104, NGC 4594
- Credits
- NASA/JPL-Caltech
- Release Date
- 2012-04-24
- Lightyears
- 28,000,000
- Redshift
- 0.003416
- Reference Url
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5135-ssc2012-06a-The-Sombrero-Galaxy-s-Split-Personality
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer
- Instrument
- IRAC, IRAC, IRAC
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Green, Red
- Band
- Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
- Bandpass
- Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR
- Central Wavelength
- 3600, 4500, 8000
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 189.9980372, -11.6228372
- Reference Dimension
- 1970.0, 2400.0
- Reference Pixel
- 986.0, 1201.0
- Scale
- 0.000104102, 0.00010410203
- Rotation
- -22.33
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- Spitzer Space Telescope
- URL
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
- Name
- Spitzer Space Telescope
- Telephone
- Address
- 1200 E. California Blvd.
- City
- Pasadena
- State/Province
- CA
- Postal Code
- 91125
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
- Publisher
- Spitzer Science Center
- Publisher ID
- spitzer
- Resource ID
- ssc2012-06a.tif
- Resource URL
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/uploaded_files/images/0008/8577/ssc2012-06a.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2012-04-24
- Metadata Version
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
