Photo: Centaurus A in Radio Wavelengths

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers recently snapped an amazing image of the massive elliptical galaxy Centaurus A, at radio wavelengths. This is the highest-quality radio image ever obtained of this object.

In optical photos, the core of the galaxy is obscured by very large lanes of dark dust, which do not enable scientists to see too many details of what's going on behind the thick veil. ALMA has no problem in piercing these covers with its sensitive detectors.

Centaurus A is also renowned for emitting strong radio waves, and is widely considered to be the brightest radio galaxy in the night sky. It hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass nearly 100 million times that of the Sun.

The background for this image was snapped in near-infrared wavelengths by the SOFI instrument attached to the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) New Technology Telescope (NTT).