Figure 21-16:
An Intermediate-mass Black Hole? The largest black holes have billions of times the mass of the Sun. M82 is an unusual galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. The inset is an image of the central region of this galaxy from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The bright, compact X-ray source varies in its light output over a period of months. The properties of this source suggest that it may be a black hole of roughly 500 solar masses or more. If correct, the intermediate-mass black hole is about 600 ly away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy that has about 30 million solar masses.
An Intermediate-mass Black Hole? The largest black holes have billions of times the mass of the Sun. M82 is an unusual galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. The inset is an image of the central region of this galaxy from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The bright, compact X-ray source varies in its light output over a period of months. The properties of this source suggest that it may be a black hole of roughly 500 solar masses or more. If correct, the intermediate-mass black hole is about 600 ly away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy that has about 30 million solar masses.
(NASA/CXC/JHU/D. Strickland; optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team; infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/U. of Arizona/C. Engelbracht; inset: NASA/SAO/CXC)