Centaurus A*

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Colour composite image of Centaurus A, revealing the lobes and jets emanating from the active galaxy’s central black hole. This is a composite of images obtained with three instruments, operating at very different wavelengths. The 870-micron submillimetre data, from LABOCA on APEX, are shown in orange. X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in blue. Visible light data from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope located at La Silla, Chile, show the stars and the galaxy’s characteristic dust lane in close to "true colour".

Credit:

ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray)

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About the Image

Id:	eso0903a
Type:	Observation
Release date:	28 January 2009
Related releases:	eso0903
Size:	2808 x 2957 px

About the Object

Name:	Centaurus A, NGC 5128
Type:	• Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical • Galaxies
Distance:	13 million light years

Mounted Image

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Coordinates

Position (RA):	13h 25m 27.70s
Position (Dec):	-43° 1' 9.55"
Field of view:	22.71 x 23.92 arcminutes
Orientation:	North is 0.0° right of vertical

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Colours & filters

Band	Wavelength	Telescope
X-ray		Chandra X-ray Observatory
Optical B	445 nm	MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope WFI
Optical V	551 nm	MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope WFI
Millimeter Submillimetre	870 μm	Atacama Pathfinder Experiment LABOCA
Optical R	658 nm	MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope WFI