CosmoView Episode 32: Spectacular Portrait of Centaurus A

This spectacular portrait of Centaurus A was captured with the Dark Energy Camera on  the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. This galaxy’s peculiar appearance — cloaked in dark tendrils of dust — stems from a past interaction with another galaxy. Its dust lane contains widespread star formation, seen as red clouds of hydrogen and as faint blue stars at each end of the dust lane.  Centaurus A’s size and proximity to Earth make it one of the best-studied giant galaxies in the night sky.