Sombrero Galaxy

space · galaxies · astronomy

Looks like a hat. The Sombrero Galaxy got its name because of its shape, with a bright bulging center that looks like the crown of a sombrero and a flat disk around it that looks like the brim.

Bigger than our galaxy. This galaxy is slightly larger than the Milky Way, stretching across about 32,000 light-years from edge to edge.

Very far away. The Sombrero Galaxy is about 29 million light-years from Earth, so we see it as it looked 29 million years ago.

Belongs to a group. It is part of the Virgo II Groups, a collection of galaxies that stretch out from the edge of a massive supercluster of galaxies.

Mystery classification. Astronomers are still figuring out exactly what type of galaxy it is because it has unusual features that don't fit neatly into regular categories.