page_title: NGC 1277
hierarchical_section_title: NGC 1277
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of NGC 1277 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy holding one of the most massive black holes known.
context_page_description: NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Perseus. It is a member of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies and is located approximately 73 Mpc or 220 million light years from the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude of about 14.7. It was discovered on December 4, 1875 by Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse.
  NGC 1277 has been called a "relic of the early universe" due to its stars being formed during a 100 million year interval about 12 billion years ago. Stars were formed at a rate of 1000 times that of the Milky Way galaxy's formation rate in a short burst of time. After this process of stellar formation ran its course, NGC 1277 was left populated with metal-rich stars that are about 7 billion years older than our Sun. It is still uncertain whether or not NGC 1277 is a "relic galaxy"; current studies are still researching the possibility. However, observations with Hubble Space Telescope indicate that NGC 1277 lacks metal-poor globular clusters, suggesting that it has accreted little mass over its lifetime and supporting the relic galaxy hypothesis.
context_section_description: NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Perseus.  It is  a member of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies and is located approximately 73 Mpc (megaparsecs) or 220 million light years  from the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude of about 14.7. It was discovered on December 4, 1875 by Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse.
  NGC 1277 has been called a "relic of the early universe" due to its stars being formed during a 100 million year interval about 12 billion years ago. Stars were formed at a rate of 1000 times that of the Milky Way galaxy's formation rate in a short burst of time. After this process of stellar formation ran its course, NGC 1277 was left populated with metal-rich stars that are about 7 billion years older than our Sun. It is still uncertain whether or not NGC 1277 is a "relic galaxy"; current studies are still researching the possibility. However, observations with Hubble Space Telescope indicate that NGC 1277 lacks metal-poor globular clusters, suggesting that it has accreted little mass over its lifetime and supporting the relic galaxy hypothesis.
caption: NGC 1277 as seen by the HST
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