The dust band in Centaurus A

Eso_eso9820f_1024

eso_eso9820f May 27th, 1998

Credit: ESO

Centaurus A is the closest active elliptical galaxy and one of the strongest radio sources in the sky. This image shows part of the dust lane that obscures the central regions of the galaxy. This complex structure is believed to be the result of the recent collision between the old elliptical galaxy and a dwarf, gas-rich galaxy. Intense star formation is taking place within the violently stirred gas during the merging event. This image was taken with the Test Camera of the VLT UT1 telescope on May 22, 1998, during a short, 10 sec exposure through a red filtre to demonstrate the great light collecting power of the 53 m 2 mirror of the VLT UT1. It shows a great deal of fine details. The image quality is about 0.49 arcsec. The insert shows a complete view of Centaurus A taken with another telescope. The brightest stars are foreground objects located within our own galaxy, but clusters of recently formed stars are visible at the edge of the dust lane. With powerful infra-red detectors to be mounted on the VLT later this year, astronomers will soon be able to probe deep into the dust lane, infrared light being less absorbed by dust than red light.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9820f/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Centaurus A NGC 5128
Subject - Local Universe
Planet > Satellite
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (None) Optical (R) -
Eso_eso9820f_1280
×
ID
eso9820f
Subject Category
C.1.4   C.5.4.6  
Subject Name
Centaurus A, NGC 5128
Credits
ESO
Release Date
1998-05-27T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9820f/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope
Instrument
None
Color Assignment
Red
Band
Optical
Bandpass
R
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
10
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
1371.0, 1554.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso9820f
Metadata Date
2010-06-24T14:45:02+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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