Chandra Release - June 4, 2002

Visual Description: NGC 4649

A Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, also known as M60 or Messier 60, is dominated by red and pink hues. The galaxy's central region is highlighted by a bright pink spot, which stands out from the surrounding fainter spots. NGC 4649 is an elliptical galaxy, a type of galaxy characterized by a round or oval shape with no distinct arms or spiral patterns. This galaxy is one of the most massive and luminous in the Virgo Cluster, a group of over 1,300 galaxies located about 54 million light-years away from Earth. Chandra's image of the elliptical galaxy reveals a large, bright cloud of hot gas and 165 point-like sources. Most of the point-like sources are due to black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems.  The hot gas cloud filling the galaxy has a temperature of about 10 million degrees Celsius. In the bright central region there appear to be bright fingers of X-ray emission which could be due to rising cells of hot gas.