Astronomy Picture Of The Day: NGC 5128 - Centaurus A

 

#NASA, #Space, #astronomy, #διάστημα

The center of the galaxy contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 55 million solar masses, which ejects a relativistic jet that is responsible for emissions in the X-ray and radio wavelengths. By taking radio observations of the jet separated by a decade, astronomers have determined that the inner parts of the jet are moving at about half of the speed of light. X-rays are produced farther out as the jet collides with surrounding gases, resulting in the creation of highly energetic particles. The X-ray jets of Centaurus A are thousands of light-years long, while the radio jets are over a million light-years long. Credit: NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration , ESA - European Space Agency , NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory , NASA's Hubble Space Telescope