Black holes · Ultramassive black hole

NGC 4889

308 million light-years · Light crosses it in 4.8 days

Across
124.0 billion km
Vs Earth
829 AU across
Mass
21.0 billion Suns

Open NGC 4889 in Cosmic Scale

In the app, NGC 4889 is part of the Beyond pack.

About

NGC 4889 is a giant elliptical galaxy in the Coma Cluster, hosting one of the largest black holes ever weighed: about 21 billion Suns. It is a dormant quasar — it once blazed, and now it is quiet.

Its event horizon alone is more than ten times wider than Neptune's orbit.

At a glance

Distance308 million light-years
Black hole21 billion Suns
TypeSupergiant elliptical
ClusterComa Cluster

Did you know

  1. When it was active, its quasar would have outshone the whole galaxy.
  2. Its black hole's event horizon is about 12 times wider than Neptune's orbit.
  3. Stars near the centre move so fast that the black hole's mass can be read directly from their speeds.