RX J1242−11

RX J1242.6−1119A is an elliptical galaxy located approximately 200 megaparsecs from Earth. The name is derived from RX J1242.6-1119, the term for an X-ray source identified by ROSAT as a galaxy pair A & B.

Supermassive black hole

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. 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.

Location in the sky

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.