NASA's Hubble Space Telescope allows astronomers to observe galaxies of all shapes and sizes from almost all angles. When you see the edge of a galaxy, this fascinating perspective reveals a dazzling fragment of the universe. The little Sombrero Galaxy, also known as NGC 7814 or Caldwell 43, is one such galaxy.
Against the mottled background of more distant galaxies, little Mexican straw hat has a bright central bulge, a thin disk filled with dust, and a luminous halo of gas and stars extending into space. It is about 40 million light-years away from the earth and 80000 light-years wide. It has a history of billions of years.
It is understood that this dusty spiral galaxy is named after the more magnificent looking Sombrero Galaxy, which is like a wide edged Mexican hat. Seen from its edge, the Mexican Sombrero Galaxy lies just 28 million light-years away and looks larger than the little Mexican Sombrero Galaxy. In fact, they are almost the same size, but because the Mexican Sombrero Galaxy is closer, it looks larger.
This image of the little Mexican Sombrero Galaxy is a combination of visible and infrared observations taken by Hubble's advanced observation camera in 2006. These observations are intended to help astronomers study the galaxy's star clusters and help reveal the evolution of the galaxy and other similar galaxies.