Centaurus A Galaxy (NGC 5128)

clic for 35% size 1190 x 798 (346 kB)

clic here for 50% size 1983 x 1330 (892 kB)


About this Image

The Centaurus A galaxy is situated in the M83 group of galaxies. It is one of the most interesting and peculiar galaxies in the sky, and is a strong source of radio radiation (therefore the designation Centaurus A); it is actually the nearest radio galaxy. It is of intermediate type between elliptical and disk (spiral) galaxies: The main body has all characteristics of a large elliptical, but a pronounced dust belt is superimposed well over the center, forming a disk plane around this galaxy. The distance to the galaxy is approximately 15 million light years.
In the upper left there is the interacting galaxy pair NGC 5090/5091.
North is down.

Below you find a crop on NGC 5128 in 100%.

Next a crop on a galaxy cluster in 150 million light years distance, centered at RA 13:20:30, DEC -43:45 from left to right:
NGC5090A, NGC5090B, NGC5082, NGC5090, NGC5091 (interacting with NGC5090),
compare the ESO image


Technical Details
Optics

105mm TMB refractor with flattener at f/6.5

Mount AP-400 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -20C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik LRGB
Date Aug 15, 2004.
Location Hakos/Namibia
Sky Conditions mag 6 sky, temperature 10 C, fair seeing (windy)
Exposure LRGB= 15:15:15:15 min (5-minute sub-exposures)
all 1x1.
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL 4.0; Image calibration, aligning, mean stacking, DDP and color synthesis in ImagesPlus; Photoshop: color balance, unsharp mask;