Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sextans (Sex)  ·  Contains:  NGC 3115  ·  Spindle galaxy
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NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane
NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300
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NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300

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NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane
NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300
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NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300

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  • NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane
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  • NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane
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    NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane
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Description: NGC 3115, also known as the Spindle Galaxy or Caldwell 53, is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Sextans. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 22, 1787. At about 32 million light-years away from us, it looks rather small, but is actually several times larger than our own Milky Way.

The Spindle Galaxy is seen almost exactly edge-on. It has consumed most of the gas and dust of its youthful accretion disk, leaving it with very little remaining from which to form new stars. The vast majority of its stars are very old.

In 1992, John Kormendy of the University of Hawaii and Douglas Richstone of the University of Michigan announced what was observed to be a supermassive black hole in the galaxy. Based on orbital velocities of the stars in its core, the central black hole has a mass measured to be approximately one billion solar masses.

In 2011, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory examined NGC 3115, and imaged a flow of hot gas toward the supermassive black hole. This was the first time that clear evidence for such a flow had been observed. This flow began from a distance of approximately 700 light-years from the center, indicating that the true mass of the black hole is closer to two billion solar masses. This makes NGC 3115 the nearest billion-solar-mass black hole to Earth.

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NGC 3115 ("Spindle Galaxy") and PGC 29300, Damien Cannane

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