This galaxy has been shown many times and is like the M51 of the southern skies and there are many beautiful renditions of it. So, I wanted to show this subject a bit differently and was digging around in the data which is kind of like exploring space from a distance. I started seeing some interesting things buried in the halo of this mix-master blend of two galaxies. As you work out away from the core there is what seems like layers. I also came across a very faint blue arc of stars by looking at the blue channel. I looked around and found an APOD back in 2002 that was processed to reveal some of those features including the blue arc.
So my goal was to show the blue arc which you can see on the right side of the edge of the halo as well has an extension of the left side dust lane that seems to move up and protrude through the halo at the top.
But my favorite feature is the ring of blue star clusters around the core of this amazing galaxy where we see the results of mergers and a super massive black hole.
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxies/CentaurusA/CentaurusA.htm
Here is the link to the 2002 APOD that confirmed what I was seeing.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021111.html
As always, thanks for taking the time to look . . .
Kindest Regards,