Star cluster surrounds wayward black hole in cannibal galaxy ESO 243-49 (unlabelled)
This spectacular edge-on galaxy, called ESO 243-49, is home to an intermediate-mass black hole that may have been purloined from a cannibalised dwarf galaxy. The black hole, with an estimated mass of 50 million Suns, lies above the galactic plane. This is an unlikely place for such a massive back hole to exist, unless it belonged to a small galaxy that was gravitationally torn apart by ESO 243-49.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, and S. Farrell (University of Sydney, Australia and University of Leicester, UK)
About the Image
| Id: | heic1203b |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 15 February 2012, 16:45 |
| Related releases: | heic1203 |
| Size: | 1381 x 1063 px |
About the Object
| Name: | ESO 243-49, ESO 243-49 HLX-1 |
| Type: | • Local Universe : Star : Grouping : Cluster • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral • Galaxies Images/Videos |
| Distance: | 300 million light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical C |
390 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 |
| Optical V |
555 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 |
| Infrared I |
775 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 |
| Infrared H |
1.6 μm | Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 |
