What's the closest active galaxy to planet Earth? That would be Centaurus A , cataloged as NGC 5128, which is only 12 million light-year s distant. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies, Centaurus A shows several distinctive features including a dark dust lane across its center, outer shells of stars and gas, and jets of particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole at its center. The featured image captures all of these in a composite series of visible light images totaling over 310 hours captured over the past 10 years with a homebuilt telescope operating in Auckland , New Zealand . The brightness of Cen A's center from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma rays underlies its designation as an active galaxy .
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Image Credit: Rolf Olsen