Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5128
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Relativistic Jet and Plume from Centaurus A, TWFowler
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Relativistic Jet and Plume from Centaurus A

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Relativistic Jet and Plume from Centaurus A, TWFowler
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Relativistic Jet and Plume from Centaurus A

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Description

Centaurus A contains a SMBH (Super Massive Black Hole) up to 55 million times the mass of our sun. The interaction of the acretion disk formed as matter falls into the black hole, and the rotating magnetic field associated with the black hold form powerful jets of material travelling at up to 50% the speed of light.

This image shows one such jet at about 1:30, and about the radius of the galaxies prominent dust lane.

The image also shows a much larger plume, possibly resulting from material expelled by the jet interacting with the inter-stellar medium. This plume, also at 1:30, extends several times the radius of the dust lane.

The jet and associated plume were captured in 6:40 hours of Ha data acquired from a very dark site near Coonabarabran in New South Wales, Australia.

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