Mesier 105

 Messier 105

Image Credit: ESA, NASA

​M105 is an elliptical galaxy 32 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It is the largest elliptical in the Messier catalog that is not a member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. M105 does, however, belong to the M96 (or Leo I) Group, which includes neighbors M95 and M96 as well as several other fainter galaxies. Charles Messier’s colleague Pierre Méchain discovered M105 in 1781 just a few days after locating M95 and M96. Yet M105 was not originally included in Messier’s catalog. It was added in 1947 after astronomer Helen S. Hogg found a letter written by Méchain describing the galaxy.

Hubble peered into the core of M105 (also known as NGC 3379) and measured the motions of stars swirling around its center. These observations proved that a supermassive black hole resides at the galaxy’s heart. According to recent estimates, this black hole could be up to 200 million times as massive as our Sun.

Credits: NASA, ESA, Karl Gebhardt (University of Michigan) and Tod Lauer (NOAO)

This Hubble image of M105 was taken in near-infrared and visible light. Like most elliptical galaxies it appears rather featureless and inactive. However, Hubble observations surprised astronomers by revealing young stars and star clusters in M105, indicating that star formation is still taking place in what was thought to be a “dead” galaxy no longer capable of giving birth to new stars. Other Hubble observations measured the speeds of stars moving around the center of the galaxy, which demonstrated that a supermassive black hole resides at M105’s core.

Best observed in April, M105 has an apparent magnitude of 10.2 and can be spotted with a small telescope. Large telescopes will uncover two fainter galaxies (NGC 3384 and NGC 3389) close to the bright elliptical.

For more information about Hubble’s observations of M105, see:

The Heart of the Lion

Massive Black Holes Dwell in Most Galaxies, According to Hubble Census

Image Credit: Image Courtesy of Stellarium

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