Centaurus A (NGC 5128) | das schwarze Loch im Inneren der 13 Millionen Lichjahre entfernten Galaxie schiesst spiralförmig Materiestrahlen mit halber Lichtgeschwindigkeit ins All.

bild©:APEX-Atacama
 
Ein gigantischer Staubring umschließt das hell strahlende Zentrum der elliptischen Galaxie, aus ihrem Zentrum schießen Materiestrahlen (Staub und Elektronen) mit rund 150.000 Kilometern pro Sekunde spiralförmig ins All. | http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/0,1518,604021,00.html
 
Von der Erde aus ist die 13 Millionen Lichtjahre entfernte Galaxie im südlichen Sternbild Zentaur fast genau von der Seite zu sehen. Zwei grosse Materiestrahlen schiessen aus ihrem Zentrum mit extremer Geschwindigkeit nach oben und unten ins All. Wie solche auch von anderen aktiven Galaxien bekannten «Jets» genau entstehen, ist noch nicht im Detail bekannt. | http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/wissenschaft/schwarzes_loch_schiesst_materie_1.1812931.html

 
Centaurus A may be described as having a peculiar morphology. As seen from Earth, the galaxy looks like a lenticular or elliptical galaxy with a superimposed dust lane.[5] The peculiarity of this galaxy was first identified in 1847 by John Herschel, and the galaxy was included in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (published in 1966) as one of the best examples of a “disturbed” galaxy with dust absorption.[6] The galaxy’s strange morphology is generally recognized as the result of a merger between two smaller galaxies.[7]

The bulge of this galaxy is comprised mainly of evolved red stars.[5] The dusty disk, however, has been the site of more recent star formation;[3] over 100 star formation regions have been identified in the disk.[8]

One supernova has been detected in Centaurus A.[9] The supernova, named SN 1986G, was discovered within the dark dust lane of the galaxy by R. Evans in 1986.[10] It was later identified as a type Ia supernova,[11] which forms when a white dwarf’s mass grows large enough to ignite carbon fusion in its center, touching off a runaway thermonuclear reaction, as may happen when a white dwarf in a binary star system strips gas away from the other star. SN 1986G was used to demonstrate that the spectra of type Ia supernovae are not all identical, and that type Ia supernovae may differ in the way that they change in brightness over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A