MessageToEagle.com - A new image of the centre of the distinctive galaxy Centaurus A, made with the
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows how the new observatory allows astronomers to see
through the opaque dust lanes that obscure the galaxy's centre, with unprecedented quality.
ALMA is currently in its Early Science phase of observations and is still under construction, but is already
the most powerful telescope of its kind.
The observatory has just issued the Call for Proposals for its next cycle of observations, in which the
growing telescope will have increased capabilities.
Centaurus A is a massive elliptical radio galaxy, which emits strong radio waves and is the most prominent,
as well as by far the nearest, radio galaxy in the sky. Centaurus A has therefore been observed with many different telescopes.
Its very luminous centre hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 100 million times that of the Sun.
In visible light, a characteristic feature of the galaxy is the dark band that obscures its centre. This dust lane harbours
large amounts of gas, dust and young stars. These features, together with the strong radio emission, are evidence that Centaurus
A is the result of a collision between a giant elliptical galaxy, and a smaller spiral galaxy whose remains form the dusty band.
To see through the obscuring dust in the central band, astronomers need to observe using longer wavelengths of light.
This new image of Centaurus A combines observations at wavelengths around one millimetre, made with ALMA, and observations in
near-infrared light. It thus provides a clear view through the dust towards the galaxy's luminous centre.
This new image of Centaurus A combines ALMA and near-infrared observations of the massive elliptical radio galaxy.
The new ALMA observations, shown in a range of green, yellow and orange colours, reveal the position and motion of the
clouds of gas in the galaxy. They are the sharpest and most sensitive such observations ever made.
ALMA was tuned to detect signals with a wavelength around 1.3 millimetres, emitted by molecules of carbon monoxide gas.
The motion of the gas in the galaxy causes slight changes to this wavelength, due to the Doppler effect.
The motion is shown in this image as changes in colour. Greener features trace gas coming towards us while more orange
features depict gas moving away. We can see that the gas to the left of the centre is moving towards us, while the gas
to the right of the centre is moving away from us, indicating that the gas is orbiting around the galaxy.
The ALMA observations are overlaid on a near-infrared image of Centaurus A obtained with the SOFI instrument attached
to the ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT). Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); ESO/Y. Beletsky
The new ALMA observations, shown in a range of green, yellow and orange colours, reveal the position and motion of the clouds
of gas in the galaxy. They are the sharpest and most sensitive such observations ever made. ALMA was tuned to detect signals
with a wavelength around 1.3 millimetres, emitted by molecules of carbon monoxide gas. The motion of the gas in the galaxy causes
slight changes to this wavelength, due to the Doppler effect. The motion is shown in this image as changes in colour.
Greener features trace gas coming towards us while more orange features depict gas moving away. We can see that the gas to the
left of the centre is moving towards us, while the gas to the right of the centre is moving away from us, indicating that the
gas is orbiting around the galaxy.
The ALMA observations are overlaid on a near-infrared image of Centaurus A obtained with the SOFI instrument attached to the
ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT). The image was processed using an innovative technique that removes the screening effect of
the dust. We see a clear ring of stars and clusters glowing in a golden colour, the tattered remains of the spiral galaxy being
ripped apart by the gravitational pull of the giant elliptical galaxy.
The alignment between the ring of stars seen by the NTT in infrared light and the gas seen by ALMA at millimetre wavelengths
highlights different aspects of similar structures in the galaxy. This is an example of how observations with other telescopes
can complement these new observations from ALMA.
Construction of ALMA, on the Chajnantor Plateau in northern Chile, will be completed in 2013, when 66 high-precision antennas
will be fully operational. Half of the antennas have already been installed. Early scientific observations with a partial array
began in 2011, and are already producing outstanding results.
The ALMA observations of Centaurus A shown here were taken as part of the Commissioning and Science Verification phase of the telescope.
Follow MessageToEagle.com for the latest news on Facebook
and Twitter !
Recommend this article:
Millennia Old Astronomical Secret Revealed
In 1943, an ancient papyrus was bought by the Cairo museum.
It was written in Hieratic and although portions of it were eaten away by ants, it was a very precious ancient document.
The papyrus contained three separate books dealing with astronomy. One of the books was the Cairo Calendar, and now it reveals an ancient astronomical secret...
Most Alien World We Can Only Imagine
This is not an alien world, anyone of us will ever be able to visit.
It's not very far away, only about 40 light years from Earth, but it circles dangerously close to a stellar inferno, completing
one orbit in only 18 hours. The alien planet named "55 Cancri e" is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun.
The temperature on the surface of 55 Cancri e is estimated to be as high as 2,700 degrees Celsius.
Big Bang Machine Discovers Unknown Particle
Physicists at Cern have not yet been able to confirm the existence of
the elusive "God particle", but they have nevertheless made another interesting discovery
Scientists announced that the Large Hadron Collider, often referred to as the Big Bang machine has detected an unknown particle composed of three quarks.
Most Alien World We Can Only Imagine
This is not an alien world, anyone of us will ever be able to visit.
It's not very far away, only about 40 light years from Earth, but it circles dangerously close to a stellar inferno, completing
one orbit in only 18 hours. The alien planet named "55 Cancri e" is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun.
The temperature on the surface of 55 Cancri e is estimated to be as high as 2,700 degrees Celsius.
Watching Volcanoes On Alien Worlds
Volcanoes display the awesome power of nature like few other events.
Now that astronomers are finding rocky worlds
orbiting distant stars, they're asking the next logical questions: Do any of those worlds have volcanoes? And if so, could we detect them?
Stars In The Milky Way Move In Mysterious Ways
Appearently we still have a lot to learn about the stars in the Milky Way.
Something strange has been noticed about the stars in our galaxy.
Rather than moving in circles around the center of the Milky Way, all the stars in our Galaxy
are travelling along different paths, moving away from the Galactic center.
Milky Way Is Perfectly Symmetric New CFA Discovery Reveals
One half of the Milky Way is essentially the mirror image of the other, and a whole structure has an uncommon and perfect symmetry, CFA astronomers say.
Thomas Dame and Patrick Thaddeus of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. discovered a vast
structure at the Milky Way's outskirts, which is most likely the outer extension of the Scutum Centaurus arm from the inner galaxy.
Aliens Living On Methane Worlds
In the search for life elsewhere, many studies focus on finding liquid water. But what if life could exist with some other
solvent? Saturn's smoggy moon Titan makes scientists question the possibilities for methane-based life in the galaxy.
The search for life is largely limited to the search for water – we look for exoplanets at the correct distance from their
stars for liquid water to splash and flow freely on their surfaces...
Record-Breaking Radio Waves From Ultra-Cool Brown Dwarf
Flaring radio emissions from an ultra-cool star, not much warmer than the planet Jupiter, have been discovered by Penn State astronomers
using the world's largest radio telescope, at Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
This is by far the coolest brown dwarf yet detected at radio frequencies...
Light From Distant Alien World Seen For The First Time
It's the most alien world we can only imagine and for the first time a space-based infrared telescope - Spitzer Space Telescope -
has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" located in this system and orbiting a bright star, known as 55 Cancri, in a mere 18 hours.
Earth-Like Exoplanet In The Habitable Zone Could Harbor Life
- Has Earth Twin Been Discovered?
It is every astronomers' dream to find an Earth-like with liquid water and perfect conditions for life, as we know it.
This is why the recent discovery is so exciting.
An international group of astronomers have detected a new exoplanet that appears to be very similar to Earth. Could life exist there?
MessageToEagle.com - A new image of the centre of the distinctive galaxy Centaurus A, made with the
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows how the new observatory allows astronomers to see
through the opaque dust lanes that obscure the galaxy's centre, with unprecedented quality.
In 1943, an ancient papyrus was bought by the Cairo museum.
It was written in Hieratic and although portions of it were eaten away by ants, it was a very precious ancient document.
The papyrus contained three separate books dealing with astronomy. One of the books was the Cairo Calendar, and now it reveals an ancient astronomical secret...
This is not an alien world, anyone of us will ever be able to visit.
It's not very far away, only about 40 light years from Earth, but it circles dangerously close to a stellar inferno, completing
one orbit in only 18 hours. The alien planet named "55 Cancri e" is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun.
The temperature on the surface of 55 Cancri e is estimated to be as high as 2,700 degrees Celsius.
Physicists at Cern have not yet been able to confirm the existence of
the elusive 
Volcanoes display the awesome power of nature like few other events.
Now that astronomers are finding rocky worlds
orbiting distant stars, they're asking the next logical questions: Do any of those worlds have volcanoes? And if so, could we detect them?
Appearently we still have a lot to learn about the stars in the Milky Way.
Something strange has been noticed about the stars in our galaxy.
Rather than moving in circles around the center of the Milky Way, all the stars in our Galaxy
are travelling along different paths, moving away from the Galactic center.
One half of the Milky Way is essentially the mirror image of the other, and a whole structure has an uncommon and perfect symmetry, CFA astronomers say.
Thomas Dame and Patrick Thaddeus of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. discovered a vast
structure at the Milky Way's outskirts, which is most likely the outer extension of the Scutum Centaurus arm from the inner galaxy.
In the search for life elsewhere, many studies focus on finding liquid water. But what if life could exist with some other
solvent? Saturn's smoggy moon Titan makes scientists question the possibilities for methane-based life in the galaxy.
The search for life is largely limited to the search for water – we look for exoplanets at the correct distance from their
stars for liquid water to splash and flow freely on their surfaces...
Flaring radio emissions from an ultra-cool star, not much warmer than the planet Jupiter, have been discovered by Penn State astronomers
using the world's largest radio telescope, at Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
This is by far the coolest brown dwarf yet detected at radio frequencies...
It's the most alien world we can only imagine and for the first time a space-based infrared telescope - Spitzer Space Telescope -
has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" located in this system and orbiting a bright star, known as 55 Cancri, in a mere 18 hours.
It is every astronomers' dream to find an Earth-like with liquid water and perfect conditions for life, as we know it.
This is why the recent discovery is so exciting.
An international group of astronomers have detected a new exoplanet that appears to be very similar to Earth. Could life exist there?