Type

Supermassive

Location

In the constellation Sagittarius

Finder Chart

Distance

27,000 light-years (0.008 megaparsecs)

Mass

2.6 million to 4 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter roughly 10 million-15 million miles (16-24 million km).

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

A Hubble Space Telescope image shows a jet of superhot gas racing away from the nucleus of M87. [NASA/STScI]

This document was last modified: October 24, 2005.