Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation
Pegasus and you
can find this expanse of
Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Centered on NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost
be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called
the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Both
Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have
extensive central bulges cut by a thinner disk with dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million
light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes
the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake,
appearing to be smaller and fainter only because it is farther away. A very
faint dwarf galaxy, potentially
a satellite of NGC 7814, is revealed in the deep exposure just below the Little
Sombrero.
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