Hubble Spies a Galactic Odd Couple: Big Pic (stars, light, black hole)

[Brian.Pearson]

Sept. 7, 2012 -- You'd be hard pressed to find two galaxies as different as Messier 60, a giant, extremely bright elliptical galaxy, and NGC 4647, a beautiful spiral aglow with blue light from its many hot, young stars.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson

Sept. 7, 2012 -- You'd be hard pressed to find two galaxies as different as Messier 60, a giant, extremely bright elliptical galaxy, and NGC 4647, a beautiful spiral aglow with blue light from its many hot, young stars.

At the center of M60 there is also one of the largest super massive black holes ever found, at 4.5 billion solar masses. That is more than one thousand times the size of the super massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

In 2004 they spotted a Type 1a supernova in M60 and was estimated at 18.8 magnitude on its discovery, fading to magnitude 19.3 on February 11, 2004. Which puts the distance of M60 between 55 and 60 million light years away. What is not known, however, is the distance NGC 4647 is from us. Optically they look like they are close companions, but NGC 4647 could be much further away, or much closer than M60.

Sources:
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/..._674_2_869.pdf
NGC 4647 - Galaxy - WIKISKY
Supernova 2004W in M60

[Brian.Pearson]

Thanks, Glitch!