A galaxy named for its resemblance to a sombrero looks distinctly different in new image [Video]

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a surprising new view of a long-studied galactic neighbor, the Sombrero galaxy, revealing a perspective that looks quite different from the wide-brimmed Mexican hat for which it was named.Taken with the space observatory’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, the image showcases the galaxy’s smooth inner disk, rather than the glowing core that usually shines in visible light images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb’s view makes the “crown” of the sombrero invisible, changing the appearance of the galaxy to resemble a bull’s-eye. Meanwhile, distant galaxies glimmer in the background of the image.The galaxy — also known as Messier 104, or M104 — is about 30 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo constellation. French astronomer and comet hunter Pierre Méchain discovered it in 1781. Méchain named the galactic find for his colleague Charles Messier, who famously cataloged star clusters and nebulae.Webb’s sensitive instruments …