Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On April 13, 2011 @ 8:47 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
Explanation: What if you could see the huge radio jets of Centaurus A rising? The Cen A [1] radio jets are not only over a million light years long [2], they occupy an angular area over 200 times greater than the full Moon in Earth’s sky.
[3]
Centaurus Radio Jets Rising
Credit: Ilana Feain [4], Tim Cornwell & Ron Ekers (CSIRO [5]/ATNF [6]); ATCA northern middle lobe pointing courtesy R. Morganti (ASTRON); Parkes data courtesy N. Junkes (MPIfR); ATCA & Moon photo: Shaun Amy, CSIRO
Explanation: What if you could see the huge radio jets of Centaurus A rising? The Cen A [1] radio jets are not only over a million light years long [2], they occupy an angular area over 200 times greater than the full Moon in Earth’s sky. The jets are expelled by a violent black hole [7] millions of times the mass of our Sun embedded deep in the center of nearby active galaxy [8] Cen A [9]. Somehow, the black hole [10] creates the fast moving jets as other matter falls in. In this picture [11], radio telescopes from the Australian Telescope Compact Array [12] (ATCA) near Narrabri [13], NSW [14], Australia [15], were captured in front of a full Moon, with a radio image of Cen A [16] superposed at its real angular size [17] in the background. The above picture [18]includes the most detailed map yet of any galaxy-class radio jets in the universe, taking several years [19] and over 1,000 hours exposure time to complete. Details in the photo may yield clues as to how radio jets [20] interact with stars and intergalactic dust. The light dots in the image depict not stars, but typically other radio bright galaxies [21] in the even more distant universe.
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [22]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/04/13/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-56/
URLs in this post:
[1] Cen A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cen_A
[2] over a million light years long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9VtzhlM0cY&NR=1
[3] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cena_csiro_1063.jpg
[4] Ilana Feain: mailto: Ilana.Feain @at@ csiro.au
[5] CSIRO: http://www.csiro.au/org/OurHistory.html
[6] ATNF: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/
[7] black hole: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=21667
[8] active galaxy: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/active_galaxies.html
[9] Cen A: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080110.html
[10] black hole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd2Kau07SXM
[11] In this picture: http://www.csiro.au/news/Centaurus-A.html
[12] Australian Telescope Compact Array: http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/
[13] Narrabri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrabri
[14] NSW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales
[15] Australia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
[16] Cen A: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101107.html
[17] real angular size: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYQoNHc1hug
[18] above picture: http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/mediarelease/mr09-111.html
[19] several years: http://www.tameyourmindmonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Boredom-Cat1.jpg
[20] radio jets: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100314.html
[21] radio bright galaxies: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020226.html
[22] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
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