Star cluster surrounds wayward black hole in cannibal galaxy ESO 243-49 (unlabelled)
Date: 14 February 2012
Satellite: Hubble
Depicts: ESO 243-49, ESO 243-49 HLX-1
Copyright: Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Farrell (University of Sydney, Australia and University of Leicester, UK)
This spectacular edge-on galaxy, called ESO 243-49, is home to an intermediate-mass black hole that may have been purloined from a cannibalised dwarf galaxy. The black hole, with an estimated mass of 50 million Suns, 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.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
