Small Warm Doughnut Feeds Theories of Extragalactic Black Holes

The central ~30 arcseconds of the galaxy Centaurus A (one arcsecond ~ 55 light-years). The contours are the mid-infrared emission at 8.8 microns from the Gemini data and processed to highlight the low-level extended emission. The color HST image shows the Paschen-alpha emission from Marconi et al. 2000, ApJ, 528, 276 which primarily traces regions of star formation. The dotted line represents the axis of the powerful radio jet emanating from the supermassive black hole perpendicular to the torus.