
In Webb’s mid-infrared view of the Sombrero galaxy, or Messier 104 (M104), the bright core visible in optical images is absent, revealing instead a smooth inner disk. The high resolution of Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) highlights intricate details of the galaxy’s outer ring, shedding light on the distribution of dust—the crucial building block for astronomical objects. Unlike the outer ring’s smooth appearance in images from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the infrared observations reveal complex clumps for the first time time.
Researchers say the clumpy nature of the dust, where MIRI detects carbon-containing molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can indicate the presence of young star-forming regions. However, unlike some galaxies studied with Webb, including Messier 82, where ten times as many stars are born than in the Milky Way galaxy, the Sombrero galaxy is not a particular hotbed of star formation. The rings of the Sombrero galaxy produce less than one solar mass of stars per year, in comparison to the Milky Way’s roughly two solar masses per year
Even the supermassive black hole, or active galactic nucleus, at the heart of the Sombrero galaxy is quite docile, despite its impressive mass of 9 billion solar masses. It is categorized as a low luminosity active galactic nucleus, gradually consuming infalling material from the galaxy while emitting a bright, relatively small amount of light jet.
Also, within the Sombrero galaxy dwell some 2,000 globular clusters, collections of hundreds of thousands of old stars held together by gravity. This type of system serves as a pseudo-laboratory for astronomers to study stars — thousands of stars within one system with the same age but varying masses and other properties are an intriguing opportunity for comparison studies.
In the MIRI image, galaxies of varying shapes and colors litter the background of space. The different colors of these background galaxies can tell astronomers about their properties, including how far away they are are.
The Sombrero galaxy is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.
A Bright Future Ahead
Stunning images like this, and an array of discoveries in the study of exoplanets, galaxies through time, star formation, and our own solar system, are still just the beginning. Recently, scientists from all over the world applied for observation time with Webb during its fourth year of science operations, which begins in July 2025.
General Observer time with Webb is more competitive than ever. A record-breaking 2,377 proposals were submitted by the Oct. 15, 2024 deadline, requesting about 78,000 hours of observation time. This is an oversubscription rate, the ratio defining the observation hours requested versus the actual time available in one year of Webb’s operations, of around 9 to 1.
The proposals cover a wide array of science topics, with distant galaxies being among the most requested observation time, followed by exoplanet atmospheres, stars and stellar populations, then exoplanet systems.
The Space Telescope Science Institute manages the proposal and program selection process for NASA. The submissions will now be evaluated by a Telescope Allocation Committee, a group of hundreds of members of the worldwide astronomical community, on a dual-anonymous basis, with selections announced in March 2025.