JWST/MIRI reveals young stellar objects and star formation in Centaurus A's warped dust disc
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[Submitted on 6 Jul 2026]
Summary
This paper presents JWST/MIRI imaging of Centaurus A (Cen A), the nearest active radio galaxy, focusing on its central warped dust disc formed from a gas-rich merger. Using three mid-infrared filters (F560W, F770W, F1130W) over a ~4 x 2 kpc region, the study resolves extended dusty structures previously seen as an "oval dusty shell" into multiple loop-like features. The analysis identifies 928 red point sources with strong infrared excess (~36% of sources), spatially confined to the disc, with rising mid-infrared spectral slopes indicating warm dust emission. These sources are consistent with embedded young stellar objects tracing recent star formation (~10^5-10^6 yr). The geometric alignment with the disc and lack of correlation with the radio jet suggest star formation in Cen A's central regions is primarily regulated by merger-accreted gas, with no strong evidence for AGN jet-ISM interactions.
Source
bskyJWST/MIRI reveals young stellar objects and star formation in Centaurus A's warped dust discarxiv.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledThe images reveal a system of extended dusty structures, previously identified with Spitzer as an 'oval dusty shell', now resolved into multiple loop-like features that are brightest in F1130W and closely associated with the warped disc.
Colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagnostics reveal a distinct population of 928 red point sources with strong infrared excess, accounting for ~36 per cent of sources with high-quality photometry in all three bands, spatially confined to the disc.
The strong geometric alignment of these sources with the disc, together with the lack of correlation with the radio jet, suggests that star formation in the central regions of Cen A is primarily regulated by merger-accreted gas, with no strong evidence for AGN jet-ISM interactions.
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