M60 is the third-brightest large elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. It is around 120,000 lightyears in diameter, with an estimated mass of one trillion suns. At a distance of 57 million lightyears, it subtends approximately 7.5 arcminutes.
It contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 4.5 billion suns. Almost half of the total mass of the galaxy is though to consist of dark matter.
The smaller companion spiral galaxy NGC 4647 appears to lie within the halo of M60, but there is little evidence for any interaction. This is therefore considered to be a line of sight effect, though they are gravitationally-linked.
M60 and NGC 4647 together make up the galaxy group Arp 116.
This image is the result of 5h of RGB data capture from Horsham, over seven evenings in April, May and June 2025. A ZWO ASI2600 MM Pro camera was used, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien reflector.
Date: 02/06/2025
Location: Horsham, West Sussex
Photographer: Graham Wilcock
