NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy

NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy

This monster of a galaxy is located in the southern hemisphere constellation of Centaurus and is the nearest radio galaxy to us at a distance of 13 million light-years. NGC 5128 appears to be a large elliptical galaxy with a warped dust lane but upon closer inspection, this dust lane is the shredded remains of a former spiral galaxy that strayed too close and was absorbed. This collision is one of many such events that funnel gas into its core a fuel it’s actively feeding supermassive black hole. In radio light, large plumes of material can be seen on either pole of the galaxy while some areas of these jets contain ionized hydrogen and active star formation that can be seen in visible and infrared light. This galaxy is one of the largest nearby galaxies and is a member of the “Council of Giants”, it resides in the Centaurus A/ M83 galaxy group along with several other large galaxies, including M83, the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy.

Data acquired from Telescope Live

Image Acquisition Details

Telescope Live remote Imaging CHI-1 CMOS

- telescope: Planewave CDK24 (3962 mm, 610 mm, f/6.5)

- Accessories: Mathis MI-1000/1250 with absolute encoders

- Camera: QHY 600M Pro

- Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, Halpha

- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile

- Sky conditions: Bortle 1

- Processing: Siril stacking, Pixinsight processing

- Integration time: (Luminance: 41x300s, Red: 42x300s, Green: 42x300s, Blue: 41x300s, H-alpha: 72x300s)

Total integration time: 19 hours, 50 minutes