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A new infrared image of the galaxy Centaurus A reveals the gassy, ghastly bones of a galaxy that it consumed several hundred million years ago.
The parallelogram of stars leftover from the collision had been obscured by dust. But using new processing techniques in the near-infrared part of the spectrum, European Southern Observatory astronomers were able to glimpse the leftovers of the cosmic dinner.
“There is a clear ring of stars and clusters hidden behind the dust lanes, and our images provide an unprecedentedly detailed view toward it,” said Jouni Kainulainen, in a paper on the new data visualized in the image. “Further analysis of this structure will provide important clues on how the merging process occurred and what has been the role of star formation during it.”
The black hole lurking in the center of Centaurus A, 11 million light-years away, is 50 times as massive as the one at the center of the Milky Way. It’s one of the most active source of radio waves in the universe, which is why astronomers have pointed all kinds of telescopes at it and eventually revealed the basic features of the galaxy that Centaurus A had consumed.
Image: ESO using the New Technology Telescope at the La Silla Observatory.
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