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> Elliptical galaxy M60 in Virgo
Elliptical galaxy M60 in Virgo
author: Nasa/ESA/Hubble heritage team/Novapix
reference: a-gax46-49004
Image Size 300 DPI: 60 * 50 cm
Elliptical galaxy M60 (NGC 4649) located in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. At right is the spiral galaxy NGC 4647. The peculiar galaxy pair is called Arp 116. The faint bluish spiral galaxy NGC 4647 is about two-thirds of M60 in size and much lower in mass — roughly the size of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
M60 lies roughly 54 million light-years away from Earth; NGC 4647 is about 63 million light-years away. M60 is the third brightest galaxy in the Virgo cluster of galaxies, a collection of more than 1,300 galaxies. M60 has a diameter of 120,000 light-years, and a mass of about one trillion times that of the Sun. A huge black hole of 4.5 billion solar masses lies at its center, one of the most massive black holes ever found.
This image combines exposures from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
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