APOD: 2026 October 5 – M104: The Sombrero Galaxy’s Tidal Streams
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 5 – M104:… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. M104: The […]
On October 5, 2026, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) featured a deep image of the Sombrero galaxy, M104. This galaxy is named for its appearance in shorter exposures, which resembles a hat. A key feature of M104 is a dark dust brim encircling its disk galaxy center. However, a much longer exposure reveals a surprising stellar haze extending well beyond the central disk, containing many unresolved stars.
Within this haze, structures such as a diagonal ring and tidal streams can be seen, providing evidence of M104's violent past and its likely formation from collisions and mergers of smaller galaxies. The light from the Sombrero galaxy takes about 30 million years to reach us, and the galaxy itself spans approximately 150,000 light years across. The featured image was captured over seven days in mid-2026 from Namibia.
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- APOD: 2026 October 5 – M104: The Sombrero Galaxy’s Tidal Streams science.nasa.gov
