Alternate Names

NGC 224

Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Andromeda

Finder Chart

Distance

2.5 million light-years (0.78 megaparsecs)

Mass

30 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter roughly equal to the orbit of Venus.

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

This image shows the entire Andromeda Galaxy at right, with a close-up of its nucleus from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The Chandra image shows sources that are very hot. The large yellow over just above the bright blue spot at the center of the Chandra image represents a disk of hot gas surrounding the black hole. [X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: M.Garcia, S.Murray, Palomar Sky Survey]

This document was last modified: October 21, 2005.