NGC 5128: Centaurus A - Radio Galaxy

Imaged on 2/17/07
Scope: Takahashi FSQ 106N
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Camera/Autoguider: SXV-H9c
Exposures: 9 x 5 minutes
Site: Anza Borrego Desert
Temp: 61 degrees, mild wind, average seeing

Locates 15 million light years away, this galaxy is one of the most luminous and massive galaxies known and is a strong source of both radio and X-ray radiation. Images of NGC5128 show what appears to be a dust band from an interacting galaxy in front of an elliptical. Another theory holds that the dark band is being ejected from the nucleus of the galaxy.