January 23, 2025
The atoms in your body have known many forms: star core, drifting dust, ocean mineral, living cell.
NGC 7814: Little Sombrero
Birthday · January 23, 2025
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APOD published January 23, 2025. Credit: Mike Selby. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this cosmic expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. NGC 7814 is centered in the sharp field of view that would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive halos and central bulges cut by a thin disk with thinner dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake, appearing smaller and fainter only because it is farther away.
Image credit: Mike Selby