Explanation: What's going on in the center of this spiral galaxy? Named the Sombrero Galaxy for its hat-like resemblance, M104 features a prominent dust lane and a bright halo of stars and globular clusters . Reasons for the Sombrero 's hat -like appearance include an unusually large and extended central bulge of stars, and dark prominent dust lanes that appear in a disk that we see nearly edge-on . Billions of old stars cause the diffuse glow of the extended central bulge visible in the above image from the 200-inch Hale Telescope . Close inspection of the central bulge shows many points of light that are actually globular clusters . M104 's spectacular dust ring s harbor many younger and brighter stars, and show intricate details astronomers don't yet fully understand . The very center of the Sombrero glows across the electromagnetic spectrum , and is thought to house a large black hole . Fifty million-year-old light from the Sombrero Galaxy can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of Virgo .

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