Hubble Space Telescope spots billion year old ‘Sombrero Galaxy’ in a stunning new image

• Hubble telescope discovers a distinct galaxy- Little Sombrero.
• Sombrero galaxy is 40 million light-years away from earth.
• More details about Hubble Space Telescope are below.

NASA has shared a stunning image of the ‘Sombrero’ galaxy captured using its Hubble space telescope. This galaxy is surrounded by a thin disk full of dust, a bright central bulge, and a halo of gas and stars and it is roughly around 40 million light-years away from earth.

The Sombrero is also known as ‘Little Sombrero’, ‘NGC 7814’ or ‘Caldwell 43’. NASA’s Hubble space telescope has allowed astronomers to view Sombrero galaxy in all shapes and sizes nearly from every angle.


In its blog post, NASA stated that a few years ago ‘Sombrero’ galaxy had a bright central bulge and a halo of glowing gas extending out into space.

Dusty spiral arms that appeared in ‘Sombrero’ galaxy are made of dusty material that absorbs light from the galactic centre.

The galaxy is named Sombrero because it shows a resemblance to a Mexican hat. Sombrero lies at the southern edge of rich Virgo cluster of galaxies.

In the 19th century, astronomers speculated that Sombrero was a disk of luminous gas surrounded by young stars. But in 1912 astronomer V.M. Slipher discovered hat like object which was drifting away at 700 miles per second and it can be some galaxy. These were some earliest clues about the Sombrero galaxy and that universe is expanding in all directions.

Hubble space telescope is equipped with a ‘Fine Guidance Sensor’ and ‘Pointing Control System’ that aims Hubble in the right direction.

With the discoveries of galaxies and stars, Hubble has helped scientists estimate the age and size of the universe including how planets and galaxies are formed. This space telescope has also detected black holes and it also played a key role in the discovery of dark energy- a mysterious force that causes the universe to expand.

In addition, Hubble space telescope has helped astronomers to study the atmospheres of planets revolving around stars.

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