This floating ring is a galaxy, or at least part of one. This is the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. Typically, there’s a dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light. But in infrared light, it actually glows brightly. The featured image, digitally sharpened, shows this infrared glow. It was recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope and then superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
Image Credit & Copyright: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA
My dog was drinking out of the toilet and she got sucked in somehow. When I went to tell my mom to get her to help me get our dog out, I found her glaring at me while wearing a sombrero.
This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is a galaxy or at least part of one. The Sombrero Galaxy is one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in visible light glows bright in this infrared light image. The image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in visible light.
The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
Credit: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA