The Central Component Of Centaurus A

Abstract

Transit observations of Centaurus A with a fan beam 1'·5 wide at 73 cm show that the north-eastern component of the central source has an east-west width of 1'·7 and that the south-western source has a width of 2'·3. Since the situation at 9·1 cm is roughly the reverse of this, the two components must have sharply different spectra. The right ascensions observed are 13h 22m 48s . 0 and 13h 22m 20s·2±os·2 (1950). The right ascension of the centre of NGC5128 has been separately determined as 13h 22m 31s·6±os·3, showing that the two components are at significantly unequal distances from the optical object.