{"date":"2024-12-11","explanation":"What's the closest active galaxy to planet E arth? That would be Centaurus A, cataloged as NGC 5128, which is only 12 million light-years distant. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies, Ce ntaurus A shows several distinctive features including a dark dust lane across i ts center, outer shells of stars and gas, and jets of particles shooting out fro m a supermassive black hole at its center. The featured image captures all of t hese in a composite series of visible light images totaling over 310 hours captu red 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-e nergy gamma rays underlies its designation as an active galaxy. Astrophysicis ts: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library","hdurl":"https: \/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/image\/2412\/CenAShellsJets_Olsen_6150.jpg","media_type ":"image","service_version":"v1","title":"The Shells and Jets of Galaxy Centauru s A","url":"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/image\/2412\/CenAShellsJets_Olsen_108 0.jpg"}
