The James Webb Space Telescope, operated by NASA, captured new images of the Centaurus A galaxy, located approximately 11 million light-years from Earth. These images managed to reveal regions that were previously obscured by cosmic dust, highlighting an intricate internal structure with strong activity and star formation near its center.
Galactic Core Activity
Analyses indicate that this system contains an active supermassive black hole, which exerts influence on its surroundings through jets of matter and energy emission. Furthermore, the data confirms that the galaxy shows traces of a collision with another system, which occurred about two billion years ago, an event that significantly modified its dynamics and internal shape.
Internal Structure Details
The new compositions reveal that the center of Centaurus A is surrounded by large volumes of dust arranged in unique patterns, such as bands and a curved configuration resembling the letter S. Although these configurations still lack a conclusive explanation, they may be related to the interaction between the central black hole and interstellar material.