This is an image of Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128. There is disagreement about whether this is a lenticular or elliptical galaxy. It is between 10 and 16 million light years away in the constellation Centaurus. It is a starburst galaxy and the intense star formation is thought to be the result of a merger of a large elliptical galaxy merging with a smaller spiral galaxy. You can see an Ha stream of gas in the lower left that may be a remnant of this merger. The data from this image was collected by a CDK17 and RCOS 12.5-inch telescopes. It represents over 41 hours of total exposure.
Telescope: Planewave CDK-17 snd RCOS 12.5 inch
Camera: SBIG STXL11002 with AOX
Mount(CDK17): Paramount ME II
Mount(RCOS): 10Micron GM2000 HPS Monolith
Ha(CDK17): 11x30 minutes (binned 1x1)
Luminance (CDK17): 21x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Red (CDK17): 15x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Green (CDK17): 15x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Blue (CDK17): 15x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Luminance (RCOS): 15x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Red (RCOS): 8x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Green (RCOS): 9x20 minutes (binned 1x1)
Blue (RCOS): 10x20 minutes (binned 1x1)