                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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
     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: Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau & Tommy Tse; Text:
                      Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)

   Explanation: Galaxies are fascinating. In galaxies, gravity alone holds
   together massive collections of stars, dust, interstellar gas, stellar
   remnants and dark matter. Pictured is NGC 5128, better known as
   Centaurus A. 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 merger between an elliptical
   and a spiral galaxy. Its active galactic nucleus harbors a supermassive
   black hole that is about 55 million times more massive than our Sun.
   This central black hole ejects a fast jet visible in both radio and
   X-ray light. Filaments of the jet are visible in red in the upper left.
   New observations by the Event Horizon Telescope have revealed a
   brightening of the jet only towards its edges -- but for reasons that
   are currently unknown and an active topic of research.

                        At NASA it's: Black Hole Week
                  Tomorrow's picture: black hole revisited
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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