Centaurus A and the Blue Ring

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Ken Crawford
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Centaurus A and the Blue Ring

Post by Ken Crawford » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:54 am

Centaurus A showing the blue ring of stars around the core. Crop of the Centaurus A region showing the faint blue arc of stars pulled out from a possible galaxy merger
Link to the zoom and pan image http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxies/ ... aurusA.htm
Link to the full Res Jpg http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxies/ ... aurusA.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Kindest Regards,
Ken Crawford
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com

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geckzilla
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Re: Centaurus A and the Blue Ring

Post by geckzilla » Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:18 am

Man, if there are planets orbiting any of those stars they have a pretty good view of the universe. I guess a lot less interesting night sky to the naked eye, though.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

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Ann
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Re: Centaurus A and the Blue Ring

Post by Ann » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:03 am

Thanks, Ken! :D

I have read about this ring before, but this is only the second time that someone has actually really resolved it in an image. The first time I read about the ring, those who had discovered it put forth a theory that the ring might be the remnant of a Magellanic type galaxy which had been ripped apart by Centaurus A a suitable number of million years ago, Since then, star formation had ceased in the dwarf, but the stars in the shredded galaxy were still young enough to shine with a relatively blue light.

Ann
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