Galaxy NGC 4526: Spectacular Hubble image of the swirling disk

NASA. DEEP SPACE. LARGE FORMAT. HUBBLE TELESCOPE. "The swirling disk" of this galaxy belonging to the Virgo Cluster seems suspended like a halo in the void of space, due to its dark dust lanes and diffuse, brilliant glow. Although this image gives an impression of serenity, the galaxy is quite different. It is one of the brightest lenticular galaxies known, a category that lies somewhere between spirals and ellipticals. It has been the scene of two known supernova explosions, one in 1969 and the other in 1994, and is known to host a colossal supermassive black hole at its center, with a mass equivalent to 450 million suns. Ground-based observations of the galaxies in this cluster have revealed that a quarter of them appear to have rapidly rotating disks of gas at their centers. The most spectacular of these is a galaxy whose rotating disk of gas, dust and stars extends far from its core, covering around 7% of the galaxy's total radius. This disk is moving incredibly fast, at over 250 kilometers per second. The dynamics of this swirling region have been used to deduce the mass of NGC 4526's central black hole - a technique that has never before been used to constrain a galaxy's central black hole. This image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. 2014. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering on front. Legend on back label. 40.6 x 40.6CM with margins.