Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Virgo

Finder Chart

Distance

100 million light-years (31.6 megaparsecs)

Mass

500 million to 1.2 billion times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter range from the size of Saturn's orbit around the Sun to the size of Neptune's orbit

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of gas

1

An artist's concept of the view of the supermassive black hole at the core of NGC 4261 from a hypothetical planet several light-years away. The black hole is obscured by a band of dark dust, making it look red. Outside the thickest layers, the dust scatters light from the black hole, creating glowing bands of red. Bright "jets"� of particles shoot away from the poles of the black hole. [J. Gitlin/STScI]

This document was last modified: January 23, 2006.