Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Pegasus

Finder Chart

Distance

43 million light-years (13.2 megaparsecs)

Mass

2.1 million to 4.6 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

About 15 times the diameter of the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

NGC 7457

This is one of the least-massive black holes yet detected in the core of a galaxy. It is roughly the same size and mass as the black hole at the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

NGC 7457 is classified as a lenticular galaxy, so when viewed edge-on, it would look like a lens. Early observations with Hubble Space Telescope showed that the stars in its central bulge are more densely packed than expected.

Resources

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This document was last modified: February 17, 2011.