February 8, 1997
The universe has spent billions of years making things that shine. On your birthday, we celebrate one of its quieter masterpieces.
M104: The Sombrero Galaxy Credit:
Birthday · February 8, 1997
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APOD published February 8, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The famous Sombrero galaxy (M104) is a bright nearby spiral galaxy. The prominent dust lane and halo of stars and globular clusters give this galaxy its name. Something very energetic is going on in the Sombrero's center, as much X-ray light has been detected from it. This X-ray emission coupled with unusually high central stellar velocities cause many astronomers to speculate that a black hole lies at the Sombrero's center - a black hole a billion times the mass of our Sun.