Centaurus A

Only 11 million light-years away, Centaurus A is the closest active Galaxy to planet Earth.

Spanning over 60,000 light-years, the peculiar elliptical Galaxy also known as NGC 5128, is featured in this sharp telescopic view.

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 Cosmic Dust lanes.

Near the galaxy’s center, left over cosmic debris is steadily being consumed by a central Black Hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun. As in other active galaxies, that process likely generates the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray energy radiated by Centaurus A.