October 5, 2026
The universe is brighter with you in it. Happy birthday.
Birthday · October 5, 2026
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Selected image source ↗ APOD published October 5, 2026. Credit: Engelbert Vollmer. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Behind the original result
M104: The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams
Original APOD · October 5, 2026 ↗Read the original APOD for the astronomer’s explanation and full image credits. Its text is preserved in the archive as published.
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A deep image of the Sombrero galaxy reveals surprises. M104 is named the Sombrero galaxy because, on shorter exposures, it looks like a hat. A key defining feature of this huge galaxy is a dark brim of dust that circles the disk galaxy's center. A much longer exposure, however, brings up a hairy past where a bright, hazy halo is revealed that extends well past the central disk and contains many unresolved stars. Surprisingly, in this stellar haze, structures can be seen that include a diagonal ring. These structures and tidal streams provide fresh evidence that M104 had a violent past and is surely the result of collisions and mergers of smaller galaxies. Light takes about 30 million years to reach us from the Sombrero galaxy, which fully spans about 150 thousand light years across. The featured image was taken over seven days in mid-2026 from Namibia.
Image credit: Engelbert Vollmer
Explore October 5 in other years · 32 APOD entries, 1995–2026
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