Centaurus A Central Black Hole

Supermassive black hole

The engine behind Centaurus A's radio jets, devouring gas and flinging twin beams of plasma far beyond the galaxy.

Centaurus A Central Black Hole, a supermassive black holeComputed render
Computed render: general-relativistic ray-trace; colours mapped to a visible range. Not a photograph.
55.0 million ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
1.09 AU
event-horizon radius (computed)
12 million ly
from Earth

Mass is a best estimate from the cited observations, which carry their own measurement uncertainty.

Its event horizon, the edge past which nothing returns, spans about 1.09 AU in radius.

It anchors
Centaurus A
Elliptical galaxy, 12 million ly away.
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Black holes of similar mass
Bode's Galaxy Central Black HoleSupermassive70.0 million ☉Messier 106 Central Black HoleSupermassive39.0 million ☉M31*Supermassive140.0 million ☉Sgr A*Supermassive4.3 million ☉Sombrero Central Black HoleSupermassive1.0 billion ☉M87*Supermassive6.5 billion ☉
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→
Source: Curated from public catalogs via Wikidata (CC0). See data & analysis for full sourcing.
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