The odd-looking Centaurus A galaxy is revealed in incredible detail in this new image
VÍCTOR M BLANCO 4-METRE TELESCOPE, 31 AUGUST 2021
It may not have the conventional looks of a galaxy, but Centaurus A (also known as NGC 5128) is no less spectacular. It’s one of the brightest objects in the night sky and, at just 12 million lightyears away, is a popular target for Southern Hemisphere observers. This new image from the Dark Energy Camera on the Victor M Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CITO) in the Chilean Andes, captures Centaurus A in extraordinary detail.
Its unorthodox appearance is the result of a shroud of dust and gas that blots out the elliptical galaxy’s bright nucleus. These intricate, dark wisps are sprinkled with faint blue stars born from red clouds of hydrogen. They are the remnants of Centaurus A’s last big meal: a spiral galaxy.
What this image doesn’t show, are the gigantic jets of matter shooting from the supermassive black hole at its centre, recently captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (see inset).
Twinkle, twinkle
TIANGONG SPACE STATION, 30 JULY 2021
Thousands of lights across north Africa gleam as the Tiangong Space Station glides overhead. Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming spent three months living in the station’s brand-new Tianhe core module – China’s longest crewed space mission to date – before landing safely back on Earth on 17 September. Two more modules will be fitted to the station in 2022, which will eventually include science labs, a gym and the Hubble-class Xuntian telescope.
Jupiter takes a hit
JOSÉ LUIS PEREIRA, 13 SEPTEMBER 2021
A Brazilian amateur astrophotographer captured this bright flash on Jupiter’s surface while filming the transit of Io’s shadow. Other observers have confirmed the sighting of what’s thought to be a large object, possibly a fragment of a passing comet or asteroid, hitting the planet. Jupiter has long been considered a ‘buffer’ in our Solar System, its massive gravity pulling in space debris that might otherwise head towards Earth.
Like a rolling stone
GOLDSTONE DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS COMPLEX, 3 SEPTEMBER 2021
This series of pictures shows the 1.3km-wide Asteroid 2016 AJ193 as it tumbled past Earth in August. Detected by the 70m-diameter Deep Space Station 14 antenna in NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, the radar images reveal the asteroid’s ridges, small hills and flat areas, as well as what might be boulders on its surface. Although classed as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, 2016 AJ193’s stable, 5.9-year orbital path around the Sun has kept it at least 3.4 million kilometres away from Earth.
Burning bright
WILL GATER, SOMERSET, UK, 27 SEPTEMBER 2021
The Centaur upper stage of an Atlas V rocket – which had just delivered the Landsat 9 satellite mission into orbit – passes over the UK, venting fuel into space, after carrying out a deorbit burn.
The clouds produced by the venting and burn are scattering sunlight and so appear bright against the starry sky.
Globular cluster NGC 6717- HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 6 SEPTEMBER 2021- Image credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Sarajedini 
Protoplanetary disc around young star HD 163296 – ALMA, 15 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/D. Berry (NRAO), K. Öberg et al (MAPS) 
Galaxy cluster MACSJ 0138 – ALMA/HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 22 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Dagnello (NRAO), STScI, K. Whitaker et al 
Asteroid 216 Kleopatra from different angles – VERY LARGE TELESCOPE, 2017-2019 – Image Credit: ESO/Vernazza, Marchis et al./MISTRAL algorithm (ONERA/CNRS) 
Flocculent galaxy NGC 7793 – GEMINI OBSERVATORY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgment: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) 
Spiral galaxy NGC 5728 – HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 27 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, A. Riess et al., J. Greene 
Selfie after successfully drilling two rock core samples – PERSEVERANCE MARS ROVER, 20 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 
Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster – VÍCTOR M BLANCO 4-METRE TELESCOPE, 23 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Image Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA Acknowledgment: Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
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