The Sombrero lies about 28 million light years away in the constellation of Virgo. It is an unbarred spiral galaxy seen nearly edge on. Among nearby galaxies, it is likely that it has one of the most massive black holes at its core - with a mass of approximately 1 billion times the mass of our sun.

This deep image begins to show the large extent of the halo of stars that surround the galaxy. Recent observations show that this halo is indicative of a giant eliptical galaxy.