NGC 1277
What is NGC 1277?
Black holes & quasars· Distance 220 million ly. A galaxy only a quarter the Milky Way's size hosting a black hole of several billion Suns, a badly mismatched relic. It seems to be a fossil of the early universe, frozen 12 billion years ago, and challenges the idea that black holes and galaxies grow together.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where NGC 1277 is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=ngc 1277 — location and time set automatically, no login.
Its place in the sky
A black hole, in the direction of Perseus.
Mass, distance, nature
| Mass | ~5 billion Suns (17 billion in the 2012 claim) |
|---|---|
| Distance | ~220 million ly (Perseus Cluster) |
| Host | lenticular galaxy a quarter the Milky Way's size |
| Note | a relic galaxy nearly free of dark matter |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Discovery and name
A black hole (17 billion Suns) absurdly large for its galaxy — a "relic" of the early universe.
Frequently asked
- What is the mass of NGC 1277?
- ~5 billion Suns (17 billion in the 2012 claim).
- How far is NGC 1277 from Earth?
- ~220 million ly (Perseus Cluster).
- What is notable about NGC 1277?
- a relic galaxy nearly free of dark matter.
- Where in the sky is NGC 1277?
- In the direction of Perseus.
- Where is NGC 1277 in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
Why the relic galaxy never grew
NGC 1277 has stayed as it was 12 billion years ago because of where it is. It races through the Perseus Cluster near its centre at over 1,000 km/s, and the cluster's gas at tens of millions of degrees strips away the galaxy's cold gas and blocks new gas from entering. Cut off from the raw material of stars, the galaxy stopped growing, and its speed denied it any chance to merge with others. It is the core of an early-universe galaxy left frozen.
Hence all its stars are old, and a 2023 study found the galaxy nearly devoid of dark matter — either the cluster stripped away its dark-matter halo along with the gas, or it never had one, and the two readings compete. A black hole far too heavy for its galaxy is taken to mean that in the early universe black holes grew before their galaxies did, and the relic galaxy is a fossil preserving that order.
The black hole in depth
NGC 1277 is a small lenticular galaxy in the Perseus Cluster, about 220 million light-years away toward Perseus. In 2012 a team analysing Hubble data announced a central black hole of 17 billion solar masses, some 14 percent of the galaxy's entire mass, and the claim made headlines. A typical galaxy's central black hole holds only about 0.1 percent, so the ratio was a hundred times larger than normal.
Sharper observations since then have brought the mass down to about 5 billion Suns, still far too heavy for so small a galaxy. Its stars are all more than 12 billion years old, with no sign of later mergers or star formation, and a 2023 study found it nearly devoid of dark matter. It has become the textbook relic galaxy, a system where the black hole grew fast in the early universe and the galaxy simply stopped.
At magnitude 14.7 the galaxy is a tiny smudge beside NGC 1275, the Perseus Cluster's central galaxy, even in large telescopes. Select NGC 1277 in the Sky view to see its position in Perseus near Algol, high in the sky on autumn and winter evenings.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.