The elliptical galaxy Centaurus A at visible, far-infrared and x-ray wavelengths.

The elliptical galaxy Centaurus A at visible, far-infrared and x-ray wavelengths. In visible light the galaxy appears as a ball of stars, with a thick lane of dust running across it. The far-infrared light shows the glow from jets of material emanating from near the black hole in the galaxy’s core. Also visible is a twisted disc of dust, the remnants of a galaxy that was swallowed up in the galaxy’s distant past, and two clumps of dust in the top-left and bottom-right corners. In x-rays the jets become visible, as well as the x-ray glow from the super-heated material that they are ploughing in to.