We review our recent studies of the globular cluster system of NGC 5128. First, we have obtained low-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopy of 72 globular clusters using Gemini-S/GMOS to obtain the ages, metallicities, and the level of alpha enrichment of the metal-poor and metal-rich globular cluster subpopulations. Second, we have explored the rotational signature and velocity dispersion of the galaxy's halo using over 560 globular clusters with radial velocity measurements. We have also compared the dependence of these properties on galactocentric distance and globular cluster age and metallicity. Using globular clusters as tracer objects, we have analyzed the mass, and mass-to-light ratio of NGC 5128. Last, we have measured the structural parameters, such as half-light radii, of over 570 globular clusters from a superb 1.2-square-degree Magellan/IMACS image. We will present the findings of these studies and discuss the connection to the formation and evolution of NGC 5128.

Due to its proximity, the neutral hydrogen belonging to Cen A can be observed at high resolution with good sensitivity. This allows us to study the morphology and kinematics in detail, in order to understand the evolution of this radio-loud source (e.g. merger history, AGN activity). At the same time, it is important to compare results to other sources of the same class (i.e. early-type galaxies in general and radio galaxies in particular) to see how Cen A fits into the global picture of early-type/radio galaxy evolution. The amount of Hi, the morphology of a warped disk with Hi clouds surrounding the disk and the regular kinematics of the inner part of the Hi disk are not unusual for early-type galaxies. The growing evidence that mergers are not necessarily responsible for AGN activity fits with the observational result that the recent merger event in Cen A is not directly connected to the current phase of activity. Based on these results, we conclude that Cen A has typical neutral hydrogen properties for an early-type and radio galaxy and it can therefore — from the perspective of Hi — be seen as a typical example of its class.

We compile position and inclination angles for tilted ring fits to the warped dusty and gaseous disk of Cen A, spanning a radius of 1.8 to 6500 pc, from recent observations. For radii exterior to 1 kpc, tilted-ring orientations lie on an arc, on a plot of polar-inclination versus position-angle, suggesting that precession following a merger can account for the ring morphology. Three kinks in the ring orientations are seen on the polar plot, the one at radius of about 1.3 kpc we suspect corresponds to the location where self-gravity in the disk affects the ring precession rate. Another at a radius of about 600 pc may be associated with a gap in the gas distribution. A third kink is seen at a radius of 100 pc. A constant inclination tilted disk precessing about the jet axis may describe the disk between 100 and 20 pc but not interior to this. A model with disk orientation matching the molecular circumnuclear disk at 100 pc that decays at smaller radii to an inner flat disk perpendicular to the jet may account for disk orientations within 100 pc. Neither model would account for the cusps or changes in disk orientation at 100 or 600 pc.

The discovery of the radio source Centaurus A and its optical counterpart NGC 5128 were important landmarks in the history of Australian astronomy. NGC 5128 was first observed in August 1826 by James Dunlop during a survey of southern objects at the Parramatta Observatory, west of the settlement at Sydney Cove. The observatory had been founded a few years earlier by Thomas Brisbane, the new governor of the British colony of New South Wales. Just over 120 years later, John Bolton, Gordon Stanley and Bruce Slee discovered the radio source Centaurus A at the Dover Heights field station in Sydney, operated by CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory (the forerunner to CSIRO Astronomy and Space Sciences). This paper will describe this early historical work and summarize further studies of Centaurus A by other Radiophysics groups up to 1960.

Cen A, at a distance of less than 4 Mpc, is the nearest radio-loud AGN. Its emission is detected from radio to very-high energy gamma-rays. Despite the fact that Cen A is one of the best studied extragalactic objects the origin of its hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission (100 keV <E< 50 MeV) is still uncertain. Observations with high spatial resolution in the adjacent soft X-ray and hard gamma-ray regimes suggest that several distinct components such as a Seyfert-like nucleus, relativistic jets, and even luminous X-ray binaries within Cen A may contribute to the total emission in the MeV regime that has been detected with low spatial resolution. As the Spectral Energy Distribution of Cen A has its second maximum around 1 MeV, this energy range plays an important role in modeling the emission of (this) AGN. As there will be no satellite mission in the near future that will cover this energies with higher spatial resolution and better sensitivity, an overview of all existing hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray measurements of Cen A is presented here defining the present knowledge on Cen A in the MeV energy range.

We review the importance of Centaurus A in high-energy astrophysics as a nearby object with many of the properties expected of a major source of very high-energy cosmic rays and gamma rays. We examine observational techniques and the results so far obtained in the energy range from 200 GeV to above 100 EeV and attempt to fit those data to expectations of Centaurus Aas an astrophysical source from very high to ultra-high energies.

At less than 4 Mpc distance the radio galaxy NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) is the prime example to study the supermassive black hole and its influence on the environment in great detail. To model and understand the feeding and feedback mechanisms one needs an accurate determination of the mass of the supermassive black hole. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the recent studies that have been dedicated to measure the black hole mass in Centaurus A from both gas and stellar kinematics. It shows how the advancement in observing techniques and instrumentation drive the field of black hole mass measurements and concludes that adaptive optics assisted integral field spectroscopy is the key to identify the effects of the AGN on the surrounding ionised gas. Using data from SINFONI at the ESO Very Large Telescope, the best-fit black hole mass is MBH = 4.5(+1.7, −1.0) × 107 M⊙ (from H2 kinematics) and MBH = (5.5 ± 3.0) × 107 M⊙ (from stellar kinematics). This is one of the cleanest gas-versus-star comparisons of a MBH determination, and brings Centaurus A into agreement with the MBH−σ relation.

In this paper we review the various high precision methods that are now available to determine the distance to NGC 5128. These methods include: Cepheids, TRGB (tip of the red giant branch), PNLF (planetary nebula luminosity function), SBF (surface brightness fluctuations), and Long Period Variable (LPV) Mira stars. From an evaluation of these methods and their uncertainties, we derive a best-estimate distance of 3.8±0.1 Mpc to NGC 5128 and find that this mean is now well supported by the current data. We also discuss the role of NGC 5128 more generally for the extragalactic distance scale as a testbed for the most direct possible comparison among these key methods.

Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is ideal for investigating the characteristics and role of gas in an earlytype galaxy in the presence of a radio-loud active nucleus. The different phases of the gas—hot (X-ray), warm (ionized), and cold (H i and molecular)—are all detected in this object and can be studied at very high spatial resolution, due to its proximity. This richness makes Centaurus A truly unique. Spatially, these gas structures span from the pc to the tens of kpc scale. Thus, they allow us to trace very different phenomena, from the formation and evolution of the host galaxy, to the interplay between nuclear activity and interstellar medium and the feeding mechanism of the central black hole. A lot of work has been done to study and understand the characteristics of the gas in this complex object, and the present paper summarizes what has been achieved so far.

This paper reviews what has been learned about the old stellar population of NGC 5128, the only large elliptical galaxy close enough that we can currently observe individual stars as faint as the horizontal branch. Although its galaxy type is still a matter of debate, the uncertainties over distance are now largely resolved; comparison of five stellar distance indicators gives d= 3.8±0.1 Mpc. The globular cluster system, which was once perplexingly invisible, is now known to be predominantly old with a substantial metal-rich component. The globular cluster system (GCS) total population and luminosity function are normal and the clusters follow the same fundamental plane relation as those in the Milky Way and M31. Finally, the halo out to at least ∼7reff is dominated by metal-rich stars which are also predominantly old, with age and metallicity tantalizingly similar to the majority of globular clusters.

TeV gamma rays have been observed from blazars as well as from radio galaxies like M 87 and Centaurus A. In leptonic models, gamma rays above the pair production threshold can escape from the ultrarelativistic jet, because large Lorentz factors reduce the background photon densities compared to those required for isotropic emission. Here we discuss an alternative scenario, where very high energy photons are generated as secondaries from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays interactions in the cores of active galactic nuclei. We show that TeV gamma-rays can escape from the core despite large infrared and ultraviolet backgrounds. For the special case of Centaurus A, we study whether the various existing observations from the far infrared to the ultrahigh energy range can be reconciled within this picture.

We have observed Centaurus A with the Mid-Infrared Interferometric Instrument (MIDI) at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer at resolutions of 7–15 mas (at 12.5 μm) and filled gaps in the (u, v) coverage in comparison to earlier measurements. We are now able to describe the nuclear emission in terms of geometric components and derive their parameters by fitting models to the interferometric data. With simple geometrical models, the best fit is achieved for an elongated disk with flat intensity profile with diameter 76 ± 9 × 35 ± 2 mas (1.41 ± 0.17 × 0.65 ± 0.03 pc) whose major axis is oriented at a position angle (PA) of 10.1 ± 2.2° east of north. A point source contributes 47 ± 11% of the nuclear emission at 12.5 μm. There is also evidence that neither such a uniform nor a Gaussian disk are good fits to the data. This indicates that we are resolving more complicated small-scale structure in active galactic nuclei with MIDI, as has been seen in Seyfert galaxies previously observed with MIDI. The PA and inferred inclination i = of the dust emission are compared with observations of gas and dust at larger scales.