Key facts
- Category
- Galaxies
- Object class
- Peculiar active galaxy
- Host
- Centaurus A / M83 Group
- Scale fact
- 123,000 lydiameter
- Composition
- Hundreds of billions of stars, dust, gas, dark matter
Centaurus A
123,000 lydiameter
Details
Centaurus A is the nearest giant active galaxy and one of the strangest-looking galaxies in the sky. A dark dust lane cuts across its bright body, probably left by a merger between a giant elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral galaxy, while a supermassive black hole at its core powers intense radio and X-ray emission.
Centaurus A is a nearby active galaxy whose smooth stellar body is crossed by a warped lane of gas and dust. Shells, young stars and disturbed gas support the interpretation that it absorbed a smaller gas-rich galaxy.
Its central supermassive black hole launches relativistic jets visible at radio and X-ray wavelengths. Radio lobes extend far beyond the 123,000-light-year stellar diameter used here, so the displayed size does not represent the full reach of the active system.
Links
- Universe journey
- Nearby galaxy groups
- Wikipedia
- Centaurus A on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Centaurus A on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Centaurus A falls between Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy. The band uses nearby Galaxies records.
Shared physical scale
547,529ly
Sources
References for Centaurus A
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
Continue with nearby objects or open the full scale.
About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.