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Centaurus A Nucleus

Centaurus A Nucleus


Depicts: Centaurus A, NGC 5128, IRAS 13225-4245
Copyright: E.J. Schreier, (STScI) and NASA

Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer was used to peer past the dust to discover a tilted disk of hot gas at the galaxy's center (white bar running diagonally across image center). This 130 light-year diameter disk encircles a suspected black hole which may be one billion times the mass of our Sun. The disk feeds material to presumably an inner, unresolved accretion disk that is made up of gas entrapped by the black hole. The red blobs near the disk are glowing gas clouds which have been heated up and ionized by the powerful radiation from the active nucleus.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
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18-Apr-2024 11:16 UT

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