Looking almost like a bright star near the massive elliptical galaxy M60 (also called NGC 4649), the dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1 crams 140 million stars within a diameter of about 300 light-years. The dwarf galaxy may actually be the stripped remnant of a larger galaxy that was torn apart during a close encounter with the more massive galaxy. Circumstantial evidence comes from the recent discovery of a monster black hole (too small to be seen in this Hubble Space Telescope picture) at the center of the dwarf. The black hole is 15 percent the mass of the entire galaxy – way too big for it to have formed inside a dwarf galaxy. But the black hole would be the right proportional mass if the galaxy had once been more massive. The galaxy lies 50 million light-years away inside the immense Virgo Cluster of 2,500 galaxies. M60-UCD1 orbits the giant elliptical galaxy in this image. M60 is 120 million light-years across and contains an estimated 400 billion stars.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration;Acknowledgment: J. Tonry (University of Hawaii), P. Cote (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and G. Fabbiano (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Messier 60, M60, and M60-UCD1 |
| Object Description | Elliptical Galaxy and Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxy with Black Hole |
| R.A. Position | 12h 43m 36.0s |
| Dec. Position | 11° 32' 6.99" |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Distance | M60 and M60-UCD1 are roughly 54 million light-years (16 megaparsecs) distant. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Data for this science result comes from the HST proposal: G. Fabbiano (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), T. Fragos and V. Kalogera (Northwestern University), D.-W. Kim and A. Zezas (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), J. Gallagher III (University of Wisconsin, Madison) , A. King (University of Leicester), J. Strader (Harvard University), and J. Brodie (University of California, Santa Cruz). The release image of M60 also includes data from proposals , PI: J. Tonry (University of Hawaii) and , PI: P. Cote (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory). The science team comprises: A. Seth (University of Utah), R. van den Bosch (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg), S. Mieske (ESO Chile), H. Baumgardt (University of Queensland), M. den Brok (University of Utah), J. Strader (Michigan State University), N. Neumayer (ESO Garching), I. Chilingarian (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Moscow State University), M. Hilker (ESO Garching), R. McDermid and L. Spitler (Australian Astronomical Observatory/Macquarie University, Sydney), J. Brodie (University of California, Santa Cruz), M. Frank (Center of Astronomy/Heidelberg University), and J. Walsh (University of Texas, Austin). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFPC2 |
| Filters | ACS/WFC: F475W (B) and F850LP (z); WFPC2: F555W (V) and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The images are composites of separate exposures made by the ACS/WFC and WFPC2 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Four filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges for the UVIS image. The colors result from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ACS/WFC F475W (B) + WFPC2 F555W (V) Green: F475W (B) + F555W (V) + F850LP (z) + F814W (I) Red: ACS/WFC F850LP (z) + WFPC2 F814W (I) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
