Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5128

Image of the day 05/24/2018

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Centaurus A, Rick Stevenson
Centaurus A
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Centaurus A

Image of the day 05/24/2018

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Centaurus A, Rick Stevenson
Centaurus A
Powered byPixInsight

Centaurus A

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Description

NGC 5128 or Centaurus A is one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth at a distance of approximately 12 million light-years. It has a distinctive central dust lane and an active galactic nucleus containing a supermassive black hole creating a relativistic jet which emits in visual, radio and X-ray wavelengths. The inner and outer filaments of the optical jet are visible here as the red streaks between 2 and 3 o'clock. It is an unusual galaxy, possibly the result of a merger between an elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral galaxy.

Data by Martin Pugh, Heaven's Mirror Observatory, New South Wales, Australia.

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Centaurus A, Rick Stevenson