Sombrero Galaxy: The Universe’s Dusty Brimmed Hat
noirlab_noirlab2612a April 24th, 2026
Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURAImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Messier 104, nicknamed the Sombrero galaxy, is a popular target for amateur observing and astronomical research. Its recognizable extended halo and dust-filled disk are captured in this image from the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. See a close-up of the Sombrero Galaxy in the cropped version of this image here.
Provider: NOIRLab
Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2612a/
Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Full Size Image
(14133 x 8960)
Source TIFF (725 MB)
Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
| Telescope | Spectral Band | Wavelength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (DECam) | Optical (N662) | 662.0 nm |
|
NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (DECam) | Optical (i) | 784.0 nm |
|
NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (DECam) | Optical (r) | 642.0 nm |
|
NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (DECam) | Optical (g) | 473.0 nm |
- ID
- noirlab2612a
- Subject Category
- Subject Name
- NGC 4594
- Credits
- CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURAImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
- Release Date
- 2026-04-24T08:27:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2612a/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
- Instrument
- DECam, DECam, DECam, DECam
- Color Assignment
- Red, Orange, Cyan, Blue
- Band
- Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
- Bandpass
- N662, i, r, g
- Central Wavelength
- 662, 784, 642, 473
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- None, None, None, None
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 190.002241706, -11.625940561
- Reference Dimension
- 14133.0, 8960.0
- Reference Pixel
- 7067.0, 4479.5
- Scale
- -7.50008746669591e-05, 7.49765755017556e-05
- Rotation
- 0.00174730699
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- NSF's NOIRLab
- URL
- https://noirlab.edu
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- 950 North Cherry Ave.
- City
- Tucson
- State/Province
- AZ
- Postal Code
- 85719
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- NSF's NOIRLab
- Publisher ID
- noirlab
- Resource ID
- noirlab2612a
- Resource URL
- https://storage.noirlab.edu/media/archives/images/original/noirlab2612a.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2026-02-08T22:15:23+01:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
