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Explanation:
Why does the Sombrero Galaxy look like a hat? Reasons include the
Sombrero's unusually large and extended central bulge of stars, and dark
prominent dust lanes that appear in a disk that we see nearly edge-on.
Billions of old stars cause the diffuse glow of the extended central bulge.
Close inspection of the bulge in the above photograph shows many points of
light that are actually globular clusters. M104's spectacular dust rings
harbor many younger and brighter stars, and show intricate details astronomers
don't yet fully understand. The very center of the Sombrero glows across the
electromagnetic spectrum, and is thought to house a large black hole. Fifty
million-year-old light from the Sombrero Galaxy can be seen with a small
telescope towards the constellation of Virgo.
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