Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is an elliptical galaxy (elliptical in shape) located 13 million light years away from Earth. It is the largest and nearest radio galaxy to us located in the constellation Centaurus. The galaxy’s warped shape is the result of a collision between a large elliptical galaxy and a small spiral galaxy like ours that took place between 200- 700 million years ago.
At the center of this galaxy, there is a supermassive black hole that has a mass of 55 million suns like ours.This black hole is more massive than the entire Milky Way galaxy. Scientists are not sure whether the black hole always existed or whether it is the product of a merger between two smaller black holes that once resided in two separate galaxies.
The galaxy has an active nucleus which means that the matter falls into the supermassive black hole in its center and shoots electrons from its poles at the half the speed of light, creating massive jets that spread thousands light years into space.
So far two supernovae have been detected in Centaurus A. First supernova was detected in 1986 while second in the year 2016. Located in the Virgo supercluster, the galaxy is the fifth-brightest in the night sky. Virgo supercluster contains a hundred galaxy groups and clusters. Our own galaxy is also part of the latest one.