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> The Sombrero galaxy. Composite of visible and infrared views
The Sombrero galaxy. Composite of visible and infrared views
author: NASA/JPL/CALTECH/ STSCI/Novapix
reference: a-gax45-94005
Image Size 300 DPI: 25 * 14 cm
Composite image of a visible image and an infrared image of the galaxy M104. The visible image was obtained by the Hubble space telescope in 2003, the infrared view by Spitzer telescope in 2004 and 2005. This spiral galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. The infrared image obtained by Spitzer space telescope pierces through the obscuring dust, along with the bulge of stars. It shows that the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy; clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun.
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