APOD: Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy (2019 Feb 09)

[APOD Robot]

Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy

Explanation: Comet Iwamoto (C/2018 Y1), shows off a pretty, greenish coma at the upper left in this telescopic field of view. Taken on February 4 from the Mount John Observatory, University of Canterbury, the 30 minute long total exposure time shows the comet sweeping quickly across a background of stars and distant galaxies in the constellation Virgo. The long exposure and Iwamoto's rapid motion relative to the stars and galaxies results in the noticeable blurred streak tracing the the comet's bright inner coma. In fact, the streaked coma gives the comet a remarkably similar appearance to Messier 104 at lower right, popularly known as the Sombrero Galaxy. The comet, a visitor to the inner Solar System, is a mere 4 light-minutes away though, while majestic Messier 104, a spiral galaxy posing edge-on, is 30 million light-years distant. The first binocular comet of 2019, Iwamoto will pass closest to Earth on February 12. This comet's highly elliptical orbit around the Sun stretches beyond the Kuiper belt with an estimated 1,371 year orbital period. That should bring it back to the inner Solar System in 3390 AD.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[Ann]

That's a fun picture. Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy do look remarkably similar in size and shape. The only difference is the color of the objects, and the fact that the comet doesn't have a dust lane or a sombrero hat brim.

Of course, the intrinsic sizes of these two objects are somewhat dissimilar, too.

Ann

[Boomer12k]

Maybe we will visit Iwamoto before it comes back...

:---[===] *

[orin stepanek]

Best to catch sight of it now; 3390 is a long time to wait for it's return!

[BDanielMayfield]

That's a fun picture. Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy do look remarkably similar in size and shape. The only difference is the color of the objects, and the fact that the comet doesn't have a dust lane or a sombrero hat brim.

Of course, the intrinsic sizes of these two objects are somewhat dissimilar, too.

Ann

Sombrero hats are commonly huge, as hats go, but the Sombrero galaxy is not all that huge, as galaxies go. Now when I see the Sombrero I think, not of a giant Mexican hat, but of a dinky little hat worn by a Chihuahua.

[Ann]

That's a fun picture. Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy do look remarkably similar in size and shape. The only difference is the color of the objects, and the fact that the comet doesn't have a dust lane or a sombrero hat brim.

Of course, the intrinsic sizes of these two objects are somewhat dissimilar, too.

Ann

Sombrero hats are commonly huge, as hats go, but the Sombrero galaxy is not all that huge, as galaxies go. Now when I see the Sombrero I think, not of a giant Mexican hat, but of a dinky little hat worn by a Chihuahua.

M104 has an unimpressive diameter, about half that of the Milky Way. But then again it has a huge, luminous halo. I think it is considerably brighter in optical light than the Milky Way.

Think of M104 as a really short but really fat man. He has a lot of "body" after all.

Ann

[neufer]

Leo Carrillo as Pancho, with Loco

---

Sombrero hats are commonly huge, as hats go, but the Sombrero galaxy is not all that huge, as galaxies go. Now when I see the Sombrero I think, not of a giant Mexican hat, but of a dinky little hat worn by a Chihuahua.

M104 has an unimpressive diameter, about half that of the Milky Way. But then again it has a huge, luminous halo. I think it is considerably brighter in optical light than the Milky Way. Think of M104 as a really short but really fat man. He has a lot of "body" after all.

<<Astronomers initially thought that the Sombrero Galaxy's halo was small and light, indicative of a spiral galaxy, but the Spitzer Space Telescope found that the halo around the Sombrero Galaxy is larger and more massive than previously thought, indicative of a giant elliptical galaxy. In the 1990s, a research group led by John Kormendy demonstrated that a supermassive black hole is present within the Sombrero Galaxy. Using spectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of revolution of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun is present in the center. This is among the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.>>

Love to every "body", Pancho & Loco.

[BDanielMayfield]

That's a fun picture. Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy do look remarkably similar in size and shape. The only difference is the color of the objects, and the fact that the comet doesn't have a dust lane or a sombrero hat brim.

Of course, the intrinsic sizes of these two objects are somewhat dissimilar, too.

Ann

Sombrero hats are commonly huge, as hats go, but the Sombrero galaxy is not all that huge, as galaxies go. Now when I see the Sombrero I think, not of a giant Mexican hat, but of a dinky little hat worn by a Chihuahua.

M104 has an unimpressive diameter, about half that of the Milky Way. But then again it has a huge, luminous halo. I think it is considerably brighter in optical light than the Milky Way.

Think of M104 as a really short but really fat man. He has a lot of "body" after all.

Ann

But it's the brim of a sombrero that's huge, not the crown.

[BDanielMayfield]

Comet Iwamoto and the Sombrero Galaxy

Explanation: ... The first binocular comet of 2019, Iwamoto will pass closest to Earth on February 12. This comet's highly elliptical orbit around the Sun stretches beyond the Kuiper belt with an estimated 1,371 year orbital period. That should bring it back to the inner Solar System in 3390 AD.

Then I'll just have to wait till 3390. [Although, by that year I very much doubt that years will be labeled using AD or CE] It's forecasted to be cold and cloudy all week here in Idaho.

Bruce, (who hopes to be an ancient astronomer)

[florid_snow]

That's a fun picture.

This is a fun one! There's an element here of the photographer "playing" with the light, and I think it's lovely! Seeing this comet and solar system light in the presence of such ancient light; it's like hearing a quick flute melody fitting perfectly with the deep notes of a pipe organ