James Webb Telescope reveals calmer side of Sombrero Galaxy in new infrared images

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new infrared images of the Sombrero galaxy, revealing a calmer appearance compared to its bright, chaotic look in visible light. The core is less luminous, showing a smooth inner disk. The mid-infrared view highlights details in the galaxy's outer ring, which now shows clumps of dust, indicating potential young star-forming regions. However, the Sombrero galaxy has low star formation rates, producing less than one solar mass of stars annually. The galaxy, located about 30 million light-years from Earth, contains around 2,000 globular clusters. These clusters allow astronomers to study groups of stars with similar ages but different properties.