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Nature of the Peculiar Galaxy NGC 5128

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Abstract

NGC 5128 is a peculiar galaxy which is of great interest, especially because it is at the centre of a very strong and exceedingly large source of radio emission known as Centaurus A1. The galaxy has been illustrated in the plate published by Baade and Minkowski2 and also in the Hubble Atlas3. It consists of a very bright elliptical galaxy classified EO with a very wide dust lane crossing it and roughly dividing the bright area of luminosity in half. Baade and Minkowski interpreted the structure as being due to a collision between an elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral system. At that time the only spectra available were those of Hubble4 and Humason2. Neither gave sufficient information from which the true nature of the object could be deduced from the motions of the gas and stars in it, and the collision hypothesis based on interpretation of the direct plates alone has been a subject of controversy.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California

    E. MARGARET BURBIDGE & G. R. BURBIDGE

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  1. E. MARGARET BURBIDGE
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  2. G. R. BURBIDGE
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BURBIDGE, E., BURBIDGE, G. Nature of the Peculiar Galaxy NGC 5128. Nature 194, 367–368 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/194367a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/194367a0

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