| RX J1242−11 | |
| Epoch: | J2000 |
| Type: | elliptical |
| Dist Ly: | 650 Mly (200 Mpc) |
| Constellation Name: | Virgo |
| Notes: | Pair of Galaxies = [KG99] A + [KG99] B. |
| Names: | RX J1242.6-1119A |
RX J1242.6−1119A (often abbreviated RX J1242−11) is an elliptical 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 center of this galaxy is a 100 million solar mass supermassive black hole which was observed to have tidally disrupted a star (in 1992 or shortly before). 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.[1]
The location of RX J1242.6-1119A, as seen from Earth, is less than one degree to the northeast of Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy.