Southern Hemisphere View of Centaurus A

NGC 5128, The Centaurus A Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, some translation by Frank McCabe

During his March 2009 vacation to the African country of Namibia, Serge Vieillard made this stunning drawing of the lenticular, radio galaxy NGC 5128. Using his 405mm (16 inch) home fabricated scope under the dark Namibian night time sky; he captured this view with an 8mm Ethos eyepiece. Serge writes, “… I discover the famous galaxy Centaurus-A under an aspect that I again had never noticed. The absorption band is nicely rippling and is crammed with very fine details. The view allows one also to make out obvious and tenuous zones well beyond the center of the galaxy”…