RXJ1242-11

Infobox Galaxy


name = RX J1242-11
epoch = J2000
type =
ra = 12^h 42^m 36.9^s
dec =-11° 19´ 35´´
dist_ly = 650 Mly (200 Mpc)Fact|date=February 2007
z =
appmag_v =
size_v =
constellation name = Virgo
notes = Pair of Galaxies = [KG99] A + [KG99] B.
names = RX J1242.6-1119

RXJ1242-11 is a galaxy located approximately 200 megaparsecs (about 650 million light-years) from Earth. According to current interpretations of X-ray observations made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton, the centre of this galaxy is a 100 million solar mass supermassive black hole which was observed to have swallowed part of a star which had been pushed by a second star into the black hole. The remaining star was pushed back into the local galaxy.

The discovery is widely considered to be the first strong evidence of a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star and consuming a portion of it.

External links

* [http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/feb/HQ_04061_black_hole.html NASA Official Release - Giant Black Hole Rips Apart Unlucky Star In Cosmic Reality Show]
* [http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/rxj1242/ Chandra X-Ray Observatory Photo Album - February 18, 2004]
* [http://scienzapertutti.lnf.infn.it/Quark/03/Ottobre/quark/newP/41QuarkBuchiNeri.pdf 41QuarkBuchiNeri.pdf]

References

* [http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?protocol=html&Ident=RXJ1242.6-1119&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id Simbad]
* [http://aa.springer.de/papers/9349002/2300l45/sc2.htm http://aa.springer.de]