The Extended Component of Centaurus A

Abstract

The strong southern radio source Centaurus A (lAU 13S4A) was one of the first to be identified with an optically observable object. Bolton, Stanley, and Slee (1949) suggested that the radio emission was associated with the peculiar galaxy NGC 5128, and this identification has been strengthened by more recent positional measurements (Mills 1952). NGC 5128 is a most unusual object, appearing to be a spheroidal galaxy transected by a heavy belt of obscuring matter (Baade and Minkowski 1954a; Sersic 1958). Its distance is uncertain, but it is likely to be about 1 megaparsec away (Baade, personal communication).