A Detailed Look at a Nearby Exploding Galaxy: Centaurus A

Abstract

The first Australian radio observatory was set up in the Sydney suburb of Dover Heights on a clifftop south of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. Much of the initial work at the site was devoted to the sun. But John Bolton and his colleagues soon became interested in radio sources beyond the sun. One of the first to be studied was Cygnus A. In November 1947, however, several other sources were found, including one in the constellation Centaurus (later called Centaurus A). Bolton decided that a move to a site in New Zealand might be helpful in allowing them to get a better fix on these new sources. So in early spring of 1948 Bolton and his crew moved their equipment to a site north of Auckland. Within a few months they had accumulated considerable data. Bolton then returned to Sydney to reduce it, and within a short time he had identified three sources. One in Taurus was identified with the Crab nebula, one in Virgo with M87, and finally the one in Centaurus with the strange elliptical galaxy NGC 5128.