Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  Centaurus A  ·  HD116466  ·  HD116647  ·  NGC 5128
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Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss
Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss

Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss
Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss

Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets

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Description

At just 12 MLY away, edge-on Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is the closest galaxy with an actively feeding supermassive black hole. This powers two jets that fire into the surrounding material and produce visible lobs of substantial RF emission from this object plus diffuse glows are also visible in optical light [Wikipedia].

This 29 hr LRGBH image shows both the inner and outer jets in optical light,  almost entirely in Halpha line emission radiation, from this amazing galaxy.   The data were collected by DeepSkyWest in Rio Hurtato, Chile, in March-April, 2024.

A closeup image with just the very inner tip of the inner jet contained in the image was posted last year and can be seen at: 
https://www.astrobin.com/245ygx/E/

The idea here was to get decent images of both polar  jets emitted from the massive black hole in Centaurus A.   The following image gives a comparison of jet flows in this image and those in a published paper on them ("AGN" = Active Galactic Nucleus):

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    Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss
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    Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss
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Centaurus A with both Inner and Outer Jets, Jeff Weiss