This galaxy, also known as NGC 5128, is one of the closest
galaxies to the Milky Way, only 11 million light years away.
It is also the 5th brightest galaxy in the sky. The striking
warped lane of dark material cutting across the face of the
galaxy is the remnant of a spiral galaxy that the larger
elliptical NGC 5128 is in the process of absorbing. The
elliptical galaxy is largely made up of older, yellowish
stars, but the merger with the other galaxy has sparked
a burst of new star formation, visible as blue clusters of
hot new stars and glowing reddish nebulae along the dark band
of merging material.

Probably due to this galactic merger, the massive black hole
at the center of Centaurus A is furiously swallowing material.
Paradoxically, this process also shoots out narrow jets of
material from the center of the galaxy at nearly the speed of
light. At the 2 o'clock position, you can see two very
faint filaments associated with the jet that is heading in
our general direction (one very small streak of blue with red
patches about half way from the center of the galaxy to the right
edge of the image, and the other a wider red area that goes all
the way to the right edge). You may need to examine the "original"
size image to spot these.

Image Data:
Telescope: Planewave 17" CDK
Camera: SBIG STXL-11002
Exposure: RGB = 20 minutes x 15 each; Lum = 20 minutes x 22;
Hydrogen-alpha = 30 minutes x 11
(total exposure = 17 hours 50 minutes)

Location: New South Wales, Australia