NGC 5128 or Centaurus A is a giant galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus and is one of the brightest objects in the night sky in the southern hemisphere.
It was discovered on April 29, 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop (who became a telescope builder as early as 1810), whose discovery earned him the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828.
Now, using the Dark Energy Camera (DEC) from the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, astronomers have obtained a new image of this spectacular galaxy.
Due to its proximity, it is the closest active galactic nucleus to us. Astronomers theorize that what was originally an elliptical galaxy collided with a relatively smaller spiral galaxy, giving it the peculiar shape that we can observe in this new snapshot.
“The new image provides a spectacular view of the bright glow of stars and the dark tendrils of dust that hide the bright center of Centaurus A,” said Monika Soraisam of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and colleagues. “This dust is the result of a past galactic collision, in which a giant elliptical galaxy merged with a smaller spiral galaxy. In addition to large amounts of gas and dust, the Centaurus A dust line contains widespread star formation. as indicated by the red hydrogen clouds and the large number of faint blue stars visible at each end of the dust line. “
Reference: Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory of Chile
