🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Shells and Jets of Galaxy Centaurus A 🪐
What's the closest active galaxy to planet Earth? That would be Centaurus A, cataloged as NGC 5128, which is only 12 million light-years distant. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies, Centaurus A shows several distinctive features including a dark dust lane across its center, outer shells of stars and gas, and jets of particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole at its center. The featured image captures all of these in a composite series of visible light images totaling over 310 hours captured over the past 10 years with a homebuilt telescope operating in Auckland, New Zealand. The brightness of Cen A's center from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma rays underlies its designation as an active galaxy. Astrophysicists: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
HD image: LINK 🛸
Copyright: No copyright 🔭
Project Website: LINK 🚀
| Name | Craft |
|---|---|
| Oleg Kononenko | ISS |
| Nikolai Chub | ISS |
| Tracy Caldwell Dyson | ISS |
| Matthew Dominick | ISS |
| Michael Barratt | ISS |
| Jeanette Epps | ISS |
| Alexander Grebenkin | ISS |
| Butch Wilmore | ISS |
| Sunita Williams | ISS |
| Li Guangsu | Tiangong |
| Li Cong | Tiangong |
| Ye Guangfu | Tiangong |
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