﻿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 May 3 [2]A long duration image of the unusual galaxy Centaurus A. The galaxy appears as a light oval with a complex dark dust lane running across its center. A starfield surrounds the galaxy. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Centaurus A: A Peculiar Island of Stars Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau & Tommy Tse; Text: [4]Natalia Lewandowska ([5]SUNY Oswego) Explanation: Galaxies are fascinating. In [6]galaxies, gravity alone holds together massive collections of stars, dust, interstellar gas, stellar remnants and dark matter. [7]Pictured is NGC 5128, better known as Centaurus A. [8]Cen A is the fifth brightest galaxy on the sky and is located at a distance of about 12 million light years from Earth. The warped shape of Cen A is the result of a [9]merger between an [10]elliptical and a [11]spiral galaxy. Its [12]active galactic nucleus harbors a [13]supermassive black hole that is about [14]55 million times more massive than our Sun. This central black hole ejects a fast [15]jet visible in both [16]radio and [17]X-ray light. Filaments of the jet are visible in red in the upper left. New [18]observations by the [19]Event Horizon Telescope have revealed a brightening of the jet only towards its edges -- but for reasons that are [20]currently unknown and an active topic of research. At NASA it's: [21]Black Hole Week Tomorrow's picture: black hole revisited __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC, [42]NASA Science Activation & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/NGC5128_Lorenzi_3000.jpg 3. https://www.glitteringlights.com/About/About-Me 4. https://www.oswego.edu/physics/natalia-lewandowska 5. https://www.oswego.edu/physics/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy 7. https://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/Galaxies/i-rXzDxS3/A 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A 9. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006ApJ...645.1092Q/abstract 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040616.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171226.html 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole 14. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/radio-particle-jets.html 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysical_jet 16. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/05_radiowaves 17. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/11_xrays 18. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01417-w 19. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/ 20. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nM9qpNo6DzQ/maxresdefault.jpg 21. https://universe.nasa.gov/black-hole-week/participate/the-big-event/ 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230502.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230503 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230504.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 43. http://www.mtu.edu/