Alternate Names

NGC 4649, Arp 116

Type

Supermassive

Location

In the constellation Virgo

Finder Chart

Distance

51 million light-years (15.6 megaparsecs)

Mass

4.5 billion times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter 45 billion miles (27 billion km), roughly eight times the diameter of Neptune's orbit around the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

M60

An optical view of M60 shows a giant galaxy shaped like a rugby ball. A companion spiral galaxy, NGC 4647, shines through the outskirts of M60 at lower left.

A combined optical (blue) and X-ray (purple) image of the giant elliptical galaxy M60.

This document was last modified: March 14, 2012.