Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy active 12 million light years away. At its core is a black hole with a mass of 55 million suns. This image shows the galaxy at radio wavelengths, revealing huge lobes of plasma that extend far beyond the visible galaxy, occupying only a small dot in the center of the image. The dots in the background are not stars, but radio galaxies very similar to Centaurus A, at much greater distances. Credit: Ben McKinley, ICRAR / Curtin and Conor Matherne, Louisiana State University
Astronomers have produced the most complete picture of radio emissions from the closest active power mass. Dungeon on the ground.
This emission is caused by a central black hole in the Centaurus A galaxy, some 12 million light years away.
When a black hole feeds on falling gas, it ejects material at nearly the speed of light, causing “radio bubbles” to grow for hundreds of millions of years.
Viewed from Earth, the Centaurus A eruption now stretches eight degrees across the sky, the length of 16 full moons positioned side by side.
Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy active 12 million light years away. At its core is a black hole with a mass of 55 million suns. This composite image shows the galaxy and the surrounding intergalactic space at several different wavelengths. Radio plasma is shown in blue and appears to interact with hot X-ray emitting gases (orange) and cold neutral hydrogen (violet). Halpha clouds (red) also appear over the main optical portion of the galaxy that lies between the two brightest radio points. The “background” appears at optical wavelengths, showing stars in our Milky Way galaxy already in the foreground. Credit: Connor Matherne, Louisiana State University (Optics / Halva), Kraft et al. (X-rays), Struve et al. (Hello), Ben McKinley, ICRAR / Kurten. (radio)
The research was published in the journal on December 22, 2021. Natural Astronomy.