The Sombrero Galaxy

The space phenomenon that's two types of galaxy at once

Located approximately 28 million light years from Earth, this odd-shaped galaxy has been the focus of much attention from scientists around the world. The Sombrero Galaxy, or Messier 104, gets its name from its somewhat hat-like appearance. The bright galaxy is found towards the southern edge of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The Sombrero Galaxy contains about 2,000 globular clusters, collections of up to a million old stars held together by gravity that are often found in the halo of galaxies. By comparison, our Milky Way only has about 200. The Sombrero also contains several hundred billion stars and is approximately 50,000 light years across, around half the diameter of the Milky Way. Around the brim of the galaxy are thick dust lanes that block the light at the centre,…

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