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NGC 4472 elliptical galaxy, hosting a stellar mass black hole
Science & Exploration

NGC 4472 elliptical galaxy, hosting a stellar mass black hole

04/01/2007 1271 views 14 likes 204648 ID
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Astronomers using XMM-Newton data found that the elliptical galaxy (named NGC 4472 or M49) shown in this image hosts a stellar-mass black hole in the act of feeding. This black hole is the first ever found in a globular star cluster.

The galaxy is situated about fifty million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, one of the many members of the Virgo galaxy cluster. This image was taken in December 1996 at the KPNO 0.9-metre telescope.

  • NOAO/AURA/NSF
  • Space Science
  • XMM-Newton
  • Astronomy targets Astronomy targets Galaxies
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