NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 5, 2026 features M104, better known as the Sombrero Galaxy, and says a deep image reveals tidal streams and other structure in its halo. The APOD note says the galaxy got its nickname because shorter exposures make it look like a hat, with a dark band of dust circling the center of its disk.
In the longer exposure, NASA says a bright, hazy halo extends far beyond the central disk and contains unresolved stars. The image also shows a diagonal ring, and those structures and tidal streams are presented as evidence that M104 had a violent past shaped by collisions and mergers with smaller galaxies.
NASA says light from the Sombrero Galaxy takes about 30 million years to reach Earth, and that the featured image was taken over seven days in mid-2026 from Namibia.
