About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Hubble and Webb’s views of the Sombrero Galaxy
This slider tool features two views of the Sombrero Galaxy, also known as Messier 104 (M104). The Sombrero galaxy is located around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.
The image on the left shows the view of the famous Sombrero Galaxy in mid-infrared light. The James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) reveals the smooth inner disk of the galaxy. The image on the right shows the image as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in visible light from 2010, which shows the large and extended glow of the central bulge of stars.
Both the Webb and Hubble images resolve the clumpy nature of the dust that makes up the Sombrero galaxy’s outer ring.
[Image description: A two panel image. The left image is Webb’s view of the Sombrero galaxy, the right image is Hubble’s view. In the Webb view, the galaxy is a very oblong, blue disk that extends from left to right at an angle (from about 10 o’clock to 5 o’clock). The galaxy has a small bright core at the centre. There is a clear inner disk that has speckles of stars scattered throughout. The outer disk of the galaxy is whiteish-blue, and clumpy, like clouds in the sky. In the Hubble view, the galaxy is an oblong, pale white disk with a glowing core over the inner disk. The outer disk is darker and clumpy.]
