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NGC 5128 is an elliptical galaxy in the middle of a notorious transformation. Its current “mango” shape as well as the central, warped dust lane are testimony of a recent galactic interaction (sometimes also called “collision”, even though no parts of the galaxy physically collide with its counterpart). Actually, both galaxies (an elliptical and a spiral galaxy) have merged into only one. The elliptical galaxy has provided the old, orange stars, while the spiral has provided the dark dust lanes as well as some Hydrogen gas that is in the act of creating young, blue stars, visible on the upper right of the dust lane. This galaxy has a supermassive black hole in its center which is responsible for its strong X-ray and radio emissions.
This image is pretty deep with the intention of capturing the very faint Hydrogen jet emerging from the galaxy towards the upper left. A second image aimed higher is needed to capture the rest of the jet. No jet emitting in the visible part of the spectrum is detected in the opposite direction.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 5128. Caldwell 77. Centaurus A
Type: Elliptical Galaxy
RA: 13h 25m 28s
Dec: -43º 00’ 50.7”
Constellation: Centaurus
Size (arcmin): 26×20 arcmin
Magnitude: +6.8
Distance: 11 Mly
Image
Date: 2022-03-10 to 2022-04-11
Location: Obstech, Río Hurtado, Chile
Size (arcmin): 33×25 arcmin
Telescope: 24” f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: QHY 461 (11760x8896pix)
Guiding: off-axis guider
Total exposure: 81h 50m (L: 11h; RGB: 4h 50m; Ha: 65h)
Processing: CCDStack, PixInsight (one process) and Photoshop CC 2024
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