NGC 300 X-1 in the spiral galaxy NGC 300
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected a stellar-mass black hole much further away than any other previously known. With a mass about twenty times that of the Sun, this is also the second most massive stellar-mass black hole ever found. The newly announced black hole lies in a spiral galaxy called NGC 300, six million light-years from Earth.
This image obtained with the FORS2 instrument on the VLT is centred on the position of the black hole. The image covers a field of view of about 2x2 arcminutes, or about 4000 light-years at the distance of NGC 300. The image is based on data obtained through a wide B filter and two narrow-band filters centred on 500 nm and H-alpha.
Credit:
ESO/P. Crowther
About the Image
| Id: | eso1004c |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 27 January 2010, 12:00 |
| Related releases: | eso1004 |
| Size: | 930 x 928 px |
About the Object
| Name: | NGC 300 X-1 |
| Type: | • Local Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Black Hole • Local Universe : Star : Type : Wolf-Rayet • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral |
| Distance: | 6 million light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical B |
Very Large Telescope (VLT) FORS2 | |
| Optical OIII |
500 nm | Very Large Telescope (VLT) FORS2 |
| Optical H-alpha |
Very Large Telescope (VLT) FORS2 |
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