The image of this sparkling galaxy, called Centaurus A,was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is reminiscent of a beautiful granite counter top. This effect is due to the use of red, green and blue light to illustrate the large illuminated gas clouds and dark lines of dust that appear at its center. Centaurus A is at a distance of 10,000,000 light years away from Earth. Centaurs A is likely It has been labeled an active galaxy (and is the closest one to Earth) because it has a small core of emission far brighter than the rest of the galaxy and emits far more energy than is considered "normal". Most of this excess energy is emitted as infrared, UV, radio and x-ray radiation. Active galaxies, such as Centaurus A, often have massive black holes at their center. Gravitational energy is released by the gathering of matter onto accretion disk that surrounds the black hole. Infrared images of Centaurus A have shown that its black hole is capable of swallowing matter a billion times the mass of the Sun. The ISO satellite has proven that there is another galaxy adjacent to Centaurus A and this other elliptical galaxy helps it retain its shape.
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