Hubble image archive
Black Hole ESO 243-49 HLX-1
This spectacular edge-on galaxy, called ESO 243-49, is believed to be home to an intermediate-mass black hole that may have been stripped off of a cannibalized dwarf galaxy. The estimated 20,000-solar-mass black hole lies above the galactic plane. This is an unlikely place for su...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2012
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2012-11-2992-image
This spectacular edge-on galaxy, called ESO 243-49, is believed to be home to an intermediate-mass black hole that may have been stripped off of a cannibalized dwarf galaxy. The estimated 20,000-solar-mass black hole lies above the galactic plane. This is an unlikely place for such a massive back hole to exist, unless it belonged to a small galaxy that was gravitationally torn apart by ESO 243-49. The circle identifies a unique X-ray source that pinpoints the black hole. The X-rays are believed to be radiation from a hot accretion disk around the black hole. The blue light not only comes from a hot accretion disk, but also from the possible existence of a cluster of hot young stars that formed around the black hole. The galaxy is 290 million light-years from Earth. Hubble can't resolve the stars individually because the suspected cluster is too far away. Their presence is inferred from the color and brightness of the light coming from the black hole's location.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and S. Farrell (Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | ESO 243-49 HLX-1 |
| Object Description | Edge-on Spiral Galaxy with Black Hole |
| R.A. Position | 01h 10m 27.73s |
| Dec. Position | -46° 4' 27.3" |
| Constellation | Phoenix |
| Distance | 290 million light-years (100 million parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposal : S. Farrell (Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney), C. Knigge and T. Maccarone (University of Southampton), A. Gosling (University of Oxford), M. Servillat (Harvard University), K. Wiersema (University of Leicester), and N. Webb, D. Barret, and O. Godet (Centre d' Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Toulouse, France) |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS and HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | September 23-24, 2010, Exposure Time: 50 minutes |
| Filters | WFC3/UVIS: F390W (C), F555W (V), and F774W (i) WFC3/IR: F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on HST. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F390W (C) Aquamarine: F555W (V) Yellow/green: F774W (i) Red: F160W (H) |
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