Centaurus A captured by the Dark Energy Camera

Noirlab_noirlab2125a_1024

noirlab_noirlab2125a August 31st, 2021

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: PI: M. Soraisam (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/NSF NOIRLab) Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) 

The galaxy Centaurus A, which lies over 12 million light-years away in the direction of the southern-hemisphere constellation Centaurus (The Centaur), is the leading light of this striking image. This image provides a spectacular view of the luminous glow of stars and dark tendrils of dust that hide the bright center of the galaxy. This dust is the result of a past galactic collision, in which a giant elliptical galaxy merged with a smaller spiral galaxy. As well as large amounts of gas and dust, Centaurus A’s dust lane contains widespread star formation, as indicated by the red clouds of hydrogen and by the large numbers of faint blue stars visible at each end of the dust lane.  Zoom into the image to see more.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2125a/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Centaurus A
Noirlab_noirlab2125a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 25m 27.1s
DEC = -43° 1’ 24.1”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CW
Field of View
17.8 x 9.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (u) 382.0 nm
Cyan Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (g) 486.0 nm
Green Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (r) 646.0 nm
Orange Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (i) 785.0 nm
Red Blanco-4m (DECam) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Red Blanco-4m (DECam) Infrared (z) 920.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Cyan
Green
Orange
Red
Red
Noirlab_noirlab2125a_1280
×
ID
noirlab2125a
Subject Category
Subject Name
Centaurus A
Credits
CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: PI: M. Soraisam (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/NSF NOIRLab) Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) 
Release Date
2021-08-31T09:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2125a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
Instrument
DECam, DECam, DECam, DECam, DECam, DECam
Color Assignment
Blue, Cyan, Green, Orange, Red, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
u, g, r, i, H-alpha, z
Central Wavelength
382, 486, 646, 785, 656, 920
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
201.362803396, -43.0233548436
Reference Dimension
4050.0, 2044.0
Reference Pixel
2025.0, 1022.0
Scale
-7.32983819988e-05, 7.32983819988e-05
Rotation
-0.11999999999999998
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
noirlab2125a
Metadata Date
2020-02-18T19:53:08+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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