Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2022 March 17 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Centaurus A Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]David Alemazkour Explanation: A mere 11 million light-years away, [5]Centaurus A is the closest [6]active galaxy to planet Earth. Spanning over 60,000 light-years, the peculiar elliptical galaxy also known [7]as NGC 5128, is featured in this sharp telescopic view. [8]Centaurus A is apparently the result of a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies resulting in a fantastic jumble of star clusters and imposing dark dust lanes. [9]Near the galaxy's center, leftover cosmic debris is steadily being consumed by a [10]central black hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun. As in other active galaxies, that process likely generates the enormous radio, X-ray, and [11]gamma-ray energy radiated by [12]Centaurus A. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/CentaurusA_DavidAlemazkour.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. mailto: dalemazkour [at] hotmail [dot] 5. http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/Centaurus.html 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus 7. http://messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n5128.html 8. https://esahubble.org/videos/heic1110a/ 9. https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2011/news-2011-18.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210804.html 11. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasas-fermi-mission-finds-hints-of-gamma-ray-cycle-in-an-active-galaxy 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080110.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220316.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220317 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220318.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/