Hubble Space Telescope Releases New Anniversary Image of Iconic Galaxy

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an awe-inspiring new image of the iconic Sombrero Galaxy, known formally as Messier 104.

The image was published as part of the 35th anniversary celebrations of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched into orbit in April 1990.

The Sombrero Galaxy is a fan-favorite of many an amateur astronomer and "an eye-catching target for Hubble," notes the ESA in a statement.

The anniversary image was stitched together from various Hubble observations and produced using new processing techniques which better highlight Messier 104's unique structure—sporting features of both elliptical and spiral galaxies.

Messier 104 was discovered back in 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain—and has since been the subject of investigation by several major telescopes, including not only Hubble but also the James Webb Space Telescope.

"Located around 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, the Sombrero Galaxy is instantly recognizable," said the ESA—adding that it is readily viewable with a modest amateur telescope.

"Viewed nearly edge-on, the galaxy's softly luminous bulge and sharply outlined disc resemble the rounded crown and broad brim of the Mexican hat from which the galaxy get its name."

Despite being absolutely packed with stars, the Sombrero Galaxy is, perhaps unexpectedly, not very active when it comes to star formation.

According to the ESA, less than one times the mass of our sun is converted into stars each year in the galaxy's knotted, dusty disc.

In fact, even Messier 104's central supermassive black hole—which is more than 2,000 times larger than its counterpart in the Milky Way, Sagittarius A, at a staggering 9 billion solar masses—is quite calm.

"One of the things that makes this galaxy especially notable is its viewing angle, which is inclined just six degrees off of the galaxy's equator," said the ESA.

"From this vantage point, intricate clumps and strands of dust stand out against the brilliant white galactic nucleus and bulge, creating an effect not unlike Saturn and its rings—but on an epic, galactic scale."

This extreme orientation relative to our viewpoint, however, has its downsides as well—it makes the nature of the Sombrero Galaxy very difficult to make out.

On the one hand, the galaxy's disc looks like it belongs to a spiral galaxy like our very own Milky Way—and yet the spheroidal bulge and halo are evocative of an elliptical galaxy.

As a whole, the apparent Frankenstein-ing together of these two components means that Messier 104 ends up looking like neither of those possibilities.

Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have been able to measure the amount of "metals" (that is, really, elements heavier than helium) in the Sombrero Galaxy's sizeable halo.

The presence of extremely metal-rich stars in the halo, the ESA explains, suggests that Messier 104 may have merged with a massive galaxy many billions of years ago.

Such an ancient galactic mash-up, astronomers believe, may explain the Sombrero Galaxy's confusing mix of features.

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