The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) returns to capture a magnificent portrait of the heavens. This time a powerful telescope otherwise called Messier 104 or M104. The end result? A spectacular image that changed our understanding of that particular region of space.
Upon closer inspection using JWST’s mid-infrared view, the Sombrero galaxy no longer really looks like a name. It looks more like an archery target, complete with a bull’s eye in the center. That nightingale? It is actually a supermassive black hole.
The sharp resolution offered by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) finally gives us a detailed image of the outer ring, showing “complex clumps of dust.” Previous visible-light images showed the area as “smooth as a blanket”. JWST presents a more complex picture.
The “compact nature of the dust” indicates carbon-containing molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which typically indicate the presence of young star-forming regions. Although the Sombrero galaxy is not thought to be a hotbed of star formation, this is likely the case here.
Scientists believe that the galaxy produces less than a one solar mass per year. Chances are, the Milky Way galaxy you’re reading this on produces about two solar masses per year. Messier, called the Cigar Galaxy, is responsible for about 20 solar masses every 82 years.
The MIRI image also shows all the galaxies littering the background of space, all in different shapes and colors. Astronomers are studying these background galaxies to determine how far away they are. As for the Sombrero galaxy, it is 30 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. A galaxy too far away for us to hope to travel to? Typical independent Virgo.
Of course, this is just the latest spectacular image presented to us by JWST. It was recently found and gave us a new perspective Uranus.
