Above and Beyond: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared Light

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:

 

·       Milky Way panorama courtesy of ESO/S. Brunier

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       Andromeda Galaxy image courtesy of Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF

·       Redshift animation courtesy of ESO

·       Centaurus A visible-light images courtesy of ESO

 

 

Written by Tracy Vogel

Designed by Marc Lussier

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

(SPEECH) 

 [ATONAL MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 A white disk of a galaxy seen from the edge. A bump in the middle forms the core. 

Text, VISIBLE LIGHT. The Sombrero Galaxy, 28 million light-years away, is a striking example of a spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on from Earth. 

VISIBLE AND INFRARED LIGHT. Infrared observations pick up hidden features, like the bright, smooth ring of dust encircling the galaxy, shown in red. 

The galaxy in infrared has a blue center disk and red ring around the circumference. 

Text, The glow in the center of the galaxy comes from material swirling around the galaxy's huge central black hole.