Ring of Stars in Centaurus A Uncovered

Using adaptive optics in the near-infrared, a team of astronomers was able to uncover a ring of stars in Centaurus A. Image Credit:ESO

Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is one of the most studied objects in the Southern sky, because it is the giant elliptical galaxy with the closest proximity to our own Milky Way. It lies 11 million light years away from the Milky Way, and is believe to have merged with another gaseous galaxy about 200 to 700 million years ago. The result of this galactic mashup: the birth of hundreds of thousands of stars in a kiloparsec-spanning ring near the core.(...)
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