The Sombrero Galaxy has a distinctive ring of dust that circles a smooth bulge of stars. The galaxy's dust and inner flat disk are very clear in the infrared. The Sombrero Galaxy may be a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, but because of its extremely edge-on orientation, we see it in the flat pancake aspect. Our Milky Way would also have this appearance if viewed from the side angle.
Optical: The dust ring is partially hidden in the galaxy's visible-light glow. Infrared: The galaxy's dust and inner flat disk are clear when viewing infrared.
Greg Bacon (STScI): Visualizer Robert Kennicutt (The University of Arizona): Image Processing Leann Johnson (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Technical Support
Please give credit for this item to: Video: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) Image Credits:
Optical: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)
Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (University of Arizona) and the SINGS Team.
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