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This image compares the view of the famous Sombrero Galaxy in mid-infrared light (bottom) and visible light (top). The James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) reveals the smooth inner disk of the galaxy, while the Hubble Space Telescope’s visible light image shows the large and extended glow of the central bulge of stars. Both the Webb and Hubble images resolve the clumpy nature of the dust that makes up the Sombrero galaxy’s outer ring.

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This image compares the view of the famous Sombrero Galaxy in mid-infrared light (bottom) and visible light (top). The James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) reveals the smooth inner disk of the galaxy, while the Hubble Space Telescope’s visible light image shows the large and extended glow of the central bulge of stars. Both the Webb and Hubble images resolve the clumpy nature of the dust that makes up the Sombrero galaxy’s outer ring.
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Corey S Powell (coreyspowell@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 27-Apr-2026 07:27:17 JST Corey S Powell
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Zoom in, and the Sombrero Galaxy looks like a starry hat.
Switch to infrared vision (via JWST) and you can make most of the stars disappear, revealing the galaxy's unusually smooth, dusty ring -- less a hat than an enormous space Aerobie.
https://esawebb.org/news/weic2427/ #space #science #astronomy

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