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Centaurus A Ultra Deep Field by strongmanmike2002 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Date Taken: May 2008
Location: “Wiruna” - dark sky site of the Astronomical Society of New South Wales.
Telescope: Astrophysics Starfire 152mm EDF F7.5 APO

This image may well be the deepest colour image ever displayed of the full extent of Centaurus A and its immediate surrounds. The image reveals the full visual dynamic range of this incredible and unusual southern galaxy, from its intense bright core bisected by an intricate and detailed dust lane right out to the very faintest extremities of the enormous galactic halo shining feebly at a tiny fraction of the natural sky background. The image indicates that the main circular galaxy halo extends out some 70 000 light years from the galaxy core while faint outer extensions perpendicular to the dust lane in both directions, take the visible extent of the galaxy out to an apparent 150 000 light years from the core or a diameter of 300 000 light years that covers some 84’ X 45’ of our night sky. Subtle mottled bright and dark patches within the huge galactic halo are hallmarks of a recently discovered complex system of stellar “shells” caused by an ancient collision with another galaxy. Showing up all over the field and looking like a patchy milky substance, is a layer of extremely faint (less than 27mag/squ arc sec) intervening Milky Way Cirrus dust. This dust hovers above the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy and shines by the collective light of the stars in the Milky Way as a whole. A closer inspection also reveals many globular clusters in the halo of the galaxy as well as thousands of very distant galaxies of all shapes and sizes in the background.

Michael Sidonio
m.sidonio@bigpond.com