Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Leo

Finder Chart

Distance

33 million light-years (11.2 megaparsecs)

Mass

30 million to 120 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

As small as Venus' orbit around the Sun to as large as the asteroid belt

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

Measuring the motions of stars

Because a black hole is both massive and compact, it exerts a strong gravitational pull on the material around it. Astronomers can deduce the presence of a supermassive black hole in the core of a galaxy by measuring the velocities of stars that orbit the black hole. A more-massive black hole will accelerate nearby stars to greater speeds, so the velocities of stars can reveal not only the presence of a black hole, but its mass as well.

More about black hole discovery methods »

This document was last modified: January 20, 2011.