** Finalist and recipient of a Highly Commended award in Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards
2009 hosted by The Royal Observatory Greenwich, Sky at Night magazine and Flickr photo sharing web
site http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/astronomy-photographer-of-the-year/winners/ **

** Featured poster at the International Conference on Centaurus A June 2009 Sydney **
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/many_faces_of_centaurus_a_conference_sydney_2009

** Astronomy 2010 - guide to the night sky

** 2008 David Malin Awards - Honorable Mention (Amateur Deep Sky)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/david_malin_awards_2008

** Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day 23 Oct 2008 **
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=pod&id=186&aid=7538

** Feature article "Spotlight On" in Australian Sky & Telescope, October 2008 **

** Two excellent articles at "Universe Today" inspired by this image **
1 http://www.universetoday.com/2008/09/21/deep-inside-a-giant-centaurus-a-by-mike-sidonio/
2 http://www.universetoday.com/2008/09/22/deep-inside-a-giant-part-2-centaurus-a-by-mike-sidonio/

This image has been processed to reveal the enormous number of distant background galaxies.
At first glance this image may appear to be slightly "soft" but the reality is that this softness
is a direct result of the intervening and extemely faint Galctic Cirrus dust that covers the entire
field! Look very closely and you will see what I mean. I do beleive that this is the first full
field colour image of Centaurus A that showcases this effect? The uncovering of this extraordinary
effect was made possible by both the long exposure (nearly 20hrs) and the fact that the imaging was
done under pristene dark (Australian) skies!

Here are other image views that showcase various aspects of this amazing southern galaxy!
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/gallery/centaurus_a