Key facts
- Category
- Black holes
- Object class
- Intermediate-mass black hole candidate
- Host
- ESO 243-49
- Scale fact
- 118,000 kmevent horizon diameter
- Mass
- ~20,000 solar masses (model estimate)
HLX-1
118,000 kmevent horizon diameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
HLX-1 is one of the strongest known candidates for an intermediate-mass black hole and lies off the plane of ESO 243-49. Hubble observations suggest it may be the stripped core of a cannibalized dwarf galaxy, leaving a midsize black hole with a small cluster of young stars around it.
HLX-1 is an off-nuclear, hyperluminous X-ray source in ESO 243-49. Its luminosity, changing X-ray spectrum and repeated outbursts are consistent with an intermediate-mass black hole, although the mass depends on how its accretion flow is modeled.
A surrounding stellar population has prompted the hypothesis that HLX-1 is the stripped nucleus of a dwarf galaxy. That origin is plausible but not established.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Universe journey
- Laniakea
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- HLX-1 on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near HLX-1 on the scale
Shared physical scale
181billion km
Sources
References for HLX-1
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- HLX-1 — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Continue with nearby objects or open the full scale.
About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.