The Centaurus A Galaxy
NGC 5128
was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in New South Wales. There's considerable debate regarding its fundamental properties, such as its type (lenticular or giant elliptical) and distance (10–16 million light-years). As NGC 5128 is one of the closest 'radio galaxies' to Earth, its active nucleus has been extensively studied. The center of Centaurus A contains a supermassive black hole with a mass equivalent to 55,000,000 solar masses, which ejects a jet (lower-left quadrant) that's responsible for emissions in the X-ray and radio wavelengths. By making observations of the jet a decade apart, astronomers have determined that the inner parts of the jet are moving at about half the speed of light. X-rays are produced farther out as the jet collides with surrounding gases resulting in the creation of highly energetic particles. The X-ray jets of Centaurus A are thousands of light-years long, while the radio jets are over 1,000,000 light-years long! Like other starburst galaxies, a collision is suspected to be responsible for the intense burst of star formation. Many thanks to Martin Pugh for providing me with the high-quality LRGBHa masters from his NSW remote observatory.
LARGE
was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in New South Wales. There's considerable debate regarding its fundamental properties, such as its type (lenticular or giant elliptical) and distance (10–16 million light-years). As NGC 5128 is one of the closest 'radio galaxies' to Earth, its active nucleus has been extensively studied. The center of Centaurus A contains a supermassive black hole with a mass equivalent to 55,000,000 solar masses, which ejects a jet (lower-left quadrant) that's responsible for emissions in the X-ray and radio wavelengths. By making observations of the jet a decade apart, astronomers have determined that the inner parts of the jet are moving at about half the speed of light. X-rays are produced farther out as the jet collides with surrounding gases resulting in the creation of highly energetic particles. The X-ray jets of Centaurus A are thousands of light-years long, while the radio jets are over 1,000,000 light-years long! Like other starburst galaxies, a collision is suspected to be responsible for the intense burst of star formation. Many thanks to Martin Pugh for providing me with the high-quality LRGBHa masters from his NSW remote observatory.
LARGE