C77 — Centaurus A
Galaxy in Centaurus
About
NGC 5128 in Centaurus, a galaxy whose dark dust lane cuts across a glowing body, 11 to 13 million light-years away. Its jets come from a central black hole near 55 million Suns in mass, and no radio galaxy lies nearer.
Imaging tips
- Plan 970–1620 mm on APS-C (1490–2480 mm full frame); the 25×20′ galaxy then fills a good part of the frame.
- Faint outskirts at 22.2 mag/arcsec²: two published deep images used about 21 hours (LRGB plus Hα) and about 33 hours (Hα, OIII and RGB).
- The bright core and faint halo differ greatly in brightness. One DSLR image was stretched in three passes, bright areas least, so colour is kept.
- Never rises above the horizon from 50°N (peaks about 3° below it) and reaches only about 12° from 35°N. Best in March and April.
Facts
- Size
- 25′ × 20′
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- Coordinates
- RA 13h 25.7m, Dec −43° 1′
- Framing, APS-C
- 970–1620 mm
- Framing, full frame
- 1490–2480 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr
- Peak altitude
- never rises from 50°N, 12° from 35°N