Hubble Space Telescope Revisits ‘Fan-Favorite' Sombrero Galaxy
The European Space Agency described the Sombrero Galaxy as a 'fan favorite' in a statement on April 16. You need a telescope to see it, but it's a popular target for amateur astronomers and professionals alike. The Hubble image is a mosaic of several images captured by the telescope.
The Sombrero, more officially known as Messier 104, is located about 30 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo constellation. The galaxy is part of a catalog of notable space objects originally compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier in the 1700s and early 1800s.
We see the Sombrero Galaxy nearly edge-on. '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,' ESA said. The galaxy resembles a gently glowing cosmic Frisbee. Its nickname is a nod to the wide-brimmed Mexican sun hat often associated with mariachi musicians.
Hubble has peered at the Sombrero Galaxy before, but this image uses new processing techniques to reveal 'finer detail in the galaxy's disc, as well as more background stars and galaxies.' The Sombrero combines features found in spiral and elliptical galaxies. Our own Milky Way Galaxy has a spiral-arm structure. Elliptical galaxies are round or oval. 'Unlike spirals, elliptical galaxies usually contain little gas and dust and show very little organization or structure,' NASA noted in an explainer.
The new Hubble image is part of the celebrations leading up to the space telescope's 35th anniversary. Hubble launched on April 24, 1990. It's elderly in space telescope terms, but keeps on kicking and delivering impactful science observations despite its age. Hubble is a joint project from NASA and ESA.
Hubble has been through many triumphs, trials and tribulations over its decades of service. NASA sent five servicing missions to meet up with and fix the telescope in space during the space shuttle era. The last servicing mission took place in 2009.
The space shuttle program ended in 2011. Since then, all Hubble fixes have been done remotely. NASA notably made a big change to the telescope's operations in 2024 to work around an ongoing glitch with the gyroscopes that help point the telescope in the right direction to do its science work.
The Hubble team's many repairs, adjustments and workarounds have extended the life of the telescope. The telescope's designers planned to get at least 15 years of operation out of it. NASA now hopes Hubble will continue working into the 2030s.
The new Sombrero Galaxy view is in good company with some of Hubble's all-time greats, like the iconic Pillars of Creation and the Hubble Deep Field. The galaxy is an enigma and a beauty. It's a fitting way to celebrate Hubble's longevity.
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