The image of Centaurus A -

Astronomers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have taken the image of a giant galaxy named Centaurus A that emits radio waves of light covering an area 200 times larger. compared to the Moon.

The galaxy's radio waves have been meticulously transformed into a richly detailed image and are now being released for the first time.

Centaurus A is located 14 million light-years from Earth, south of the constellation Centaurus. It contains a giant black hole about 50 million times the size of the Sun.

This black hole creates radio-broadcast particles that span millions of light years in the universe.

This magnificent image is absolutely not visible to the naked eye.

'If your eyes can see radio waves, you look at the sky and will see a bright radio wave emitted from this galaxy that can cover an area 200 times larger than the Moon,' said Dr. Ilana. Feain, the project leader, Australian National Telescope (ATNF) curator, said.

'Only a few galaxies are in this category. They are like the blue whales of the universe - big, and rare. '

The composite image shows the size of the radio waves emitted by the Centaurus A galaxy compared to the moon's light. Small white dots in the sky behind them are not stars, but radio sources - galaxies similar to Centaurus A are far away in the universe. The antenna array in the foreground is the Australian Radio Telescope (ATCA), which collects image data about Centaurus A. Galaxy (Photo: Ilana Feain, Tim Cornwell & Ron Ekers (CSIRO / ATNF); Morganti (ASTRON); N. Junkes (MPIfR); and Shaun Amy, CSIRO)

When viewed by wavelength, Centaurus A is so big and so big that no one has ever thought about trying to create such an image.

'This is the most detailed radio image of Centaurus A, as well as any other galaxy emitting radio waves,' said Dr. Lewis Ball, Acting Director of ATNF.

'There is no other group in the world that has the necessary equipment and skills to create such an image, and we are the first group to try this.'

Dr. Feain and her team used the Australian Radio Telescope (ATCA) near Narrabri, NSW to observe the galaxy for over 1200 hours over the past few years.

The result is 406 single images, then they are put together to form a large image.

Dr. Feain combines the data obtained from the aforementioned Telescope system with the data of the Parkes radio telescope.

Image processing - including data link, wave interference effect processing, and dynamic chain adjustment - takes another 10,000 hours.

Astronomers will use this image to understand how black holes and radio waves interact with galaxy stars and dust, and how a galaxy will grow over time.

Centaurus A is the nearest galaxy containing a supermassive black hole producing radio waves.

Astronomers are interested in studying these large and rare galaxies, with the aim of determining the role of black holes in galaxy formation and development.

Particles emit radio waves that span millions of light years in the universe from the center of the Centaurus A galaxy in the picture above. Image data is provided by the Australian Radio Telescope (ATCA) and Parkes Radio Telescope: radio frequency is 1.4 GHz. The smallest structure observed in the image is about 680 Pacsec in size (210 light years): the ratio is 50,000 pacsec (equivalent to 163,000 light years). The white dots in the picture are not the stars but the radio sources in the back, the dots are a giant galaxy like Centaurus A far away in the universe. (Photo: Ilana Feain, Tim Cornwell & Ron Ekers (CSIRO / ATNF); R. Morganti (ASTRON); N. Junkes (MPIfR)).

Dr. Feain said that the galaxies we have today are just a small part of an iceberg, because the current telescopes at the same time combine the sophistication to detect these sources of waves. and the ability to explore large areas of space.

In the near future, the scientific world will witness the birth of Australia's SKA Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP), a new telescope currently being developed by CSIRO and its partners, located in Western Australia.

ASKAP will be a probe telescope, designed for projects such as searching for Centaurus A-like galaxies in the distant universe.This is the predecessor to build the world's largest radio telescope SKA (Square Kilometer Array).

'ASKAP will work swiftly,' revealed Professor Brian Boyle, CSIRO's director of SKA development. 'Collect data about Centaurus A with ATCA's system consuming 1,200 hours; but with this new telescope it will take only 5 minutes. '

ASKAP is scheduled to be completed in 2012. In the first 6 hours of operation, it will give more information than all previous radio telescopes combined.

Centaurs A is one of the first cosmic radio sources known outside our Milky Way galaxy and it has a special relationship with Australia.

This galaxy was discovered and tracked at Parramatta Observatory near Sydney in 1826. It was later listed as NGC 5128.

Next, Centauraus galaxy was discovered by CSIRO scientists as a radio source in Dover Heights, Sydney in 1947.

The image of Centaurus, obtained by CSIRO, will be presented on Friday, July 3 at an international Centaurus A Appearance conference held in Mint, Sydney.