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 composite shows the spectacular spiral galaxy NGC 300 as seen in an image from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), as well as the position of the stellar-mass black hole in the galaxy in an image obtained with the FORS2 instrument on the VLT.

Credit:

ESO/ Digitized Sky Survey 2/P. Crowther

About the Image

Id:eso1004b
Type:Observation
Release date:27 January 2010, 12:00
Related releases:eso1004
Size:3012 x 1551 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
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
1004.1 KB
Screensize JPEG
136.7 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
201.7 KB
1280x1024
316.6 KB
1600x1200
457.4 KB
1920x1200
574.7 KB
2048x1536
723.4 KB

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
B
Very Large Telescope
FORS2
Optical
Oiii
500 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS2
Optical
H-alpha
Very Large Telescope
FORS2
Optical
R
Digitized Sky Survey 2