Alternate Names

NGC 4258

Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Canes Venatici

Finder Chart

Distance

24 million light-years

Mass

24 million to 38 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Greater than the distance from Earth to the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of gas
• Measuring the motions of stars

1

An artist's concept shows the warped accretion disk around the central black hole in M106. The side of the disk colored red is moving toward us, while the blue side is moving away from us. Jets of high-energy particles shoot out from the poles of the central black hole. [NRAO/AUI/John Kagaya (Hoshi No Techou)]

This document was last modified: June 11, 2010.