by Ann » Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:55 am
Centaurus A belongs to the astronomical Hall of Fame, so it is one of those objects that get photographed so often that you can get tired of them. But to me, this is an unusually nice image. The galaxy is "turned upside down" compared with what it usually looks like in images - not that there is any real up or down in space, of course - which in itself gives it a fresh look.
And the image does an unusually good job at bringing out the star formation in the dust lane. Virtually all Cen A images show the star formation along the lower right edge of the dust lane - in most images the star formation is seen along the upper right edge - but many pictures don't bring out the star formation on the left side of the dust lane. Here, the left side of the dust lane is peppered with pink and red emission nebulae and blue clusters. Nice!
Perhaps because the image does such a good job of bringing out the dust lane, I can actually see the dust lane wrapping itself around the main elliptical body of Cen A. To me, this feels a little like seeing the famous
Hubble image of M104 and suddenly seeing the dust lane curve all around the galaxy's bulge. In other words, today's APOD feels quite three-dimensional to me!
But there is a problem here which I hope is fixed soon. I am unable to open the larger version of the image.
Anyway, nice APOD!
Ann
Centaurus A belongs to the astronomical Hall of Fame, so it is one of those objects that get photographed so often that you can get tired of them. But to me, this is an unusually nice image. The galaxy is "turned upside down" compared with what it usually looks like in images - not that there is any real up or down in space, of course - which in itself gives it a fresh look.
And the image does an unusually good job at bringing out the star formation in the dust lane. Virtually all Cen A images show the star formation along the lower right edge of the dust lane - in most images the star formation is seen along the upper right edge - but many pictures don't bring out the star formation on the left side of the dust lane. Here, the left side of the dust lane is peppered with pink and red emission nebulae and blue clusters. Nice!
Perhaps because the image does such a good job of bringing out the dust lane, I can actually see the dust lane wrapping itself around the main elliptical body of Cen A. To me, this feels a little like seeing the famous [url=http://www.usfca.edu/uploadedImages/Destinations/College_of_Arts_and_Sciences/Undergraduate_Programs/Physics_and_Astronomy/slideshow/slideshow5.jpg]Hubble image of M104[/url] and suddenly seeing the dust lane curve all around the galaxy's bulge. In other words, today's APOD feels quite three-dimensional to me!
But there is a problem here which I hope is fixed soon. I am unable to open the larger version of the image.
Anyway, nice APOD!
Ann