THE COMPLEX NORTH TRANSITION REGION OF CENTAURUS A: A GALACTIC WIND

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/802/2/88· OSTI ID:22522525

Neff, Susan G. ^[1]; Eilek, Jean A. ^[2]

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1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Observational Cosmology, Mail Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
2. Physics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro NM 87801 (United States)

We present deep GALEX images of NGC 5128, the parent galaxy of Centaurus A. We detect a striking “weather ribbon” of far-UV (FUV) and Hα emission which extends more than 35 kpc northeast of the galaxy. This ribbon is associated with a knotty ridge of radio/X-ray emission and is an extension of the previously known string of optical emission-line filaments. Many phenomena in the region are too short-lived to have survived transit out from the inner galaxy; something must be driving them locally. We also detect FUV emission from the galaxy’s central dust lane. Combining this with previous radio and far-IR measurements, we infer an active starburst in the central galaxy which is currently forming stars at ∼2 M{sub ☉} yr{sup −1}, and has been doing so for 50–100 Myr. If the wind from this starburst is enhanced by energy and mass driven out from the active galactic nucleus, the powerful augmented wind can be the driver needed for the northern weather system. We argue that both the diverse weather system, and the enhanced radio emission in the same region, result from the wind’s encounter with cool gas left by one of the recent merger/encounter events in the history of NGC 5128.

• OSTI ID: 22522525
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 802; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC DUST
EMISSION SPECTRA
FAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
FILAMENTS
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
IMAGES
JETS
MASS
STAR CLUSTERS
STARS
X RADIATION