While our own galaxy is also thought to harbor a supermassive black hole, it is not actively consuming matter to the degree which the black hole in Centaurus A seems to be eating. When black holes have plenty to feed on, they produce X-rays around their fringes as the matter is accelerated to nearly the speed of light before being pulled in. These X-rays are shot out of the galaxies in two opposing directions along the galaxy's axis of rotation.

Once inside a black hole nothing, not even light, can escape.

Also, some of the more than 200 other bright X-ray sources known to exist in Centaurus A can be seen in the new image. They are clumped near the galactic center, and scientists suspect they are binary star system in which a neutron star or stellar-sized black hole is consuming matter from a nearby companion star, a process known to produce X-rays. Others might be exploded stars called supernovae, said astronomers familiar with the new image.

A team of scientists, led by Ralph Kraft of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has begun to study each of the strong X-ray emission sources in Centaurus A. This new image was the result of about 20 hours on December 5, 1999, and May 17, 2000.

A diffuse cloud of hot X-ray producing gas that envelops the central region can also be seen.

Other researchers have long studied the powerful radio emissions that come from Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128.

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