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| C77 or NGC5128, the Centaurus A galaxy |
| Low in the sky and visible only from the southern US, is an odd and mysterious galaxy called Centaurus A. Actually scientists think this may be two galaxies; an elliptical galaxy consuming a spiral galaxy. You can Not actually see these galaxies as you would normally think of seeing a galaxy. What you see here is a dark dust and debris band obscuring the central area where the action is going on. The bulge on either side is a giant gas cloud ionized and lit up by the stars of the central collision area. Centaurus A is part of the Virgo super cluster of galaxies. It is so far away that it is not readily apparent just how big this object is. At over 2.4 million miles in diameter, if it were part of our local group of galaxies, it would fill the area between us and our sister galaxy Andromeda, and engulf them as well. Centaurus A is 43 degrees below the celestial equator, so normally it is considered a southern hemisphere object, but it can be seen from the southern latitudes of the USA. I got this picture from the Davis Mountain area (near the McDonald Observatory, housing several world class telescopes, including one of 430 inches diameter) of west Texas. |
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10"
F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, Canon 300D camera at prime focus |