The Hubble team has released a beautiful image of part of the Little Sombrero galaxy (also known as NGC 7814).
This Hubble image shows the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 7814. The color image was taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. de Jong, Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam / G. Kober, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Catholic University of America.
NGC 7814 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located approximately 47.6 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus.
Otherwise known as the Little Sombrero, LEDA 218, UGC 8, Caldwell 43 and IRAS F00006+1552, the galaxy was discovered in 1784 by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
NGC 7814’s larger namesake, the Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104), is another stunning example of an edge-on galaxy.
In fact, the Little Sombrero is about the same size as its bright namesake at about 60,000 light-years across, but as it lies farther away, and so appears smaller in the sky.
NGC 7814 is an example of a bulge dominated galaxy.
It has a bright central bulge and a bright halo of glowing gas extending outwards into space.
The dusty spiral arms appear as dark streaks.
They consist of dusty material that absorbs and blocks light from the galactic center behind it.
“Set against a speckled backdrop of more remote galaxies, the Little Sombrero features a bright central bulge, a thin disk full of dust, and a glowing halo of gas and stars that sprawls out into space,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“The dusty spiral is named after the grander-appearing Sombrero galaxy, which resembles a broad-brimmed Mexican hat.”
“Also viewed from its edge, the Sombrero galaxy is located just 28 million light-years away and looks larger than the Little Sombrero,” they added.
“In reality, they are nearly the same size, but the Sombrero appears bigger because it is closer.”
Source link: https://www.sci.news/astronomy/hubble-little-sombrero-galaxy-10804.html
