Centaurus A

Galaxy

A giant elliptical galaxy with an active supermassive black hole launching a jet of particles thousands of light-years long.

Facts

TypeGalaxy
Galaxy typeElliptical
Distance from Earth13,000,000 ly
Diameter1,164,530,000,000,000,000 km
Mass1.99 × 10^42 kg
Apparent magnitude6.84
Redshift0.00183
HemisphereSouthern
Discovered1826

Centaurus A in context

At 1,164,530,000,000,000,000 km across, Centaurus A is 91,393,030,921,362 times the diameter of Earth.

Its mass is 1,000,000,000,000 times the mass of the Sun.

The light reaching us from Centaurus A tonight left it around 13,000,000 years ago.

Its light arrives redshifted by z = 0.00183, stretched on the way here by the universe's expansion.

It has been on record since 1826.

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