Alternate Names
IC 4625
Type
Location
in the constellation Ophiuchus
Distance
320 million light-years (98 megaparsecs)
Mass
870 million to 2 billion times the mass of the Sun
Size
Diameter roughly equal to the diameter of Uranus' or Neptune's orbit around the Sun
Discovery Methods
NGC 6240
This image from Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows the two black-hole nuclei as white and blue blobs near the center.
A Hubble Space Telescope view of NGC 6240.
A combined optical and X-ray view of the twin nuclei of NGC 6240.
NGC 6240 in a combination of visible light (blue and white) and X-rays (red, orange, and yellow) from two space telescopes.
A combined X-ray and optical view of NGC 6240. The purple is produced by X-rays from gas that's been heated by radiation from vigorous young stars in the merging galaxies.
This document was last modified: May 1, 2013.
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