Alternate Names

NGC 4486, Virgo A

Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Virgo

Finder Chart

Distance

50 million light-years (16.1 megaparsecs)

Mass

6.6 billion times the mass of the Sun

Size

Three times the diameter of Pluto's orbit around the Sun

Discovery Methods

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

1

An artist's concept shows the supermassive black hole in the heart of M87. The black hole is in the center of the orange disk. The disk itself is made of hot gas spiraling into the black hole. Powerful magnetic fields funnel some of the particles in the disk into jets (left and right of the disk) that extend hundreds of thousands of light-years into space. As the particles spiral through the magnetic fields, they emit radio waves. [Bill Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF]

This document was last modified: October 24, 2005.