Back
to Main Page
Back
to Galaxies
NGC 5128 Centaurus-A Galaxy
Imaged by Martin S. Ferlito copyright
Gstar-EX Integrating Video Camera
Information provided by seds.org
Discovered by James Dunlop in 1826.
This 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.
This galaxy seems to have "eaten" at least one larger spiral in the last few
billion years. However, the present author is not sure if this alone explains
the unique appearance of this galaxy: It may well be that this is one of the
rare "links" between "normal" ellipticals and "normal" disks.
In the radio part of the spectrum, Centaurus A exhibits two vast regions of
radio emission, starting in prolongation of the polar axis of the disk of
NGC 5128 and extending many hundreds of light years to each side.
