Webb telescope clears the haze around a stunning galactic icon-神安气集网

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Webb telescope clears the haze around a stunning galactic icon

时间：2025-06-15 19:46:52 来源：神安气集网

When the Hubble Space Telescopesnapped a photo of the Sombrero Galaxy 20 years ago,关键字2 it resembled a hat, with a brim and glowing crown.

But astronomers may have to rename it the visor galaxy. In a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope, which senses the cosmos in infrared rather than visible light, the namesake sombrero doesn't have a top. From Webb's perspective, the galaxy's central hazy bulge disappears, revealing a core with a mirror-smooth finish.

The galaxy's new look may be jarring to avid spacefans. Though the cosmic object can't be seen with the naked eye, many amateur astronomershave spotted it with small backyard telescopes.

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"The signature, glowing core seen in visible-light images does not shine, and instead a smooth inner disk is revealed," according to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates Webb and Hubblefor NASA. "The sharp resolution of Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) also brings into focus details of the galaxy’s outer ring, providing insights into how the dust, an essential building block for astronomical objects in the Universe, is distributed."

SEE ALSO: Webb telescope scientists forced to reckon with enormous galaxy outliers A comparison of Webb's image of the Sombrero Galaxy, top, to the Hubble image.

A comparison of Webb's image of the Sombrero Galaxy, top, to the Hubble image.

The James Webb Space Telescope peers through clouds of dust around the central stars of the Sombrero Galaxy, revealing new details about the composition of its rings. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Hubble Heritage Team

A lot of dust and gas in space obscures the view to distant and inherently dim light sources. But infrared light waves can actually penetrate the clouds. That's how Webb can observe an extremely early period of the universe.

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Webb's ability to see through hazy obstacles is demonstrated here with the Sombrero, aka Messier 104, a nearly edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 million light-yearsfrom Earth in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy was discovered in 1781by the French comet hunter Pierre Méchain, one of renowned astronomer Charles Messier’s colleagues.

In the new image, the galaxy has a small bright core centered on a clearer disk peppered with stars. And for the first time, the galaxy's outer ring appears clumpy.

Dust clumps can indicate young star-forming regions, but this galaxy is not much of a baby factory. Astronomers estimate its rings produce less than one star comparable to the sunper year, compared to the Milky Way, which pops out about two per year.