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Herschel
Space Observatory

An ESA Mission
with Participation from NASA

Nhsc2012-005a

Centaurus A All Prettied Up in Infrared and X-Rays

The peculiar galaxy Centaurus A as seen in longer infrared wavelengths and X-rays. Inner structural features seen in this image are helping scientists to understand the mechanisms and interactions within the galaxy, as are the jets seen extending over thousands of light years from the black hole believed to be at its heart. Newly discovered clouds co-aligned with the jets can also be seen in the infrared data, which are colored red and orange. The X-ray image data in this combined picture are shown in blue/cyan/purple and highlight the highly energetic jet region as well as structures that co-align with the infrared and X-ray jet (top left).

Image Details
Date
April 4, 2012
ID
nhsc2012-005a
Type
Observation
Credit
ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/C.D. Wilson, MacMaster University, Canada; X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC
Object Details
Color Mapping
Telescope Spectral Band Color Assigment Wavelength
XMM-Newton X-ray Blue 619.9 pm
Herschel (PACS) Infrared Green 100.0 µm
Herschel (SPIRE) Infrared Red 250.0 µm
Herschel (SPIRE) Infrared Red 350.0 µm
Herschel (SPIRE) Infrared Red 500.0 µm