Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... The above picture by the Hubble Space Telescope of the center of the nearby galaxy NGC 4261 tells us one dramatic tale. Here gas and dust are seen swirling near this elliptical galaxy's center into what is almost certainly a massive black hole. ... A leading candidate is a type of dim, low mass star called a "brown dwarf" star. ... Releasing Compton . ... The star pictured is actually more compact that any known except a black hole, so it is only hypothetical. ...