Centaurus A: The Supermassive Black Hole in the Nearest AGN

Abstract

Centaurus A (NGC5128) is the nearest active galaxy and one of the 1st discovered, via its radio and x-ray emission. Although its proximity should make it an ideal test case of the standard model invoking massive black holes, the heavy obscuration due to the dust lane makes it very difficult to study the AGN at high spatial resolution in the optical. Near-IR observations with HST and with the VLT are now providing high-resolution images and spectra and new insights into the region around the black hole. We summarize what is known about Cen A, discuss the implications of recent HST optical and IR imaging and polarimetry, and present some preliminary results from VLT/ISAAC.