Stellar dynamics of Cen A

We have made the first complete map of the stellar velocity field within 100 arcsec of the nucleus of the bright elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (Cen A) and obtained complementary long-slit spectra out to 400 arsec along the optical major axis. These data show that the ellipsoidal stellar component is rotating slowly (maximum line-of-sight velocity 40km s –1) approximately perpendicular to the dust lane about a projected axis lying in pa $\sim\,135^{\circ}$ and in the opposite sense to that expected if the warp were due to the dust lying in stable orbits round a triaxial potential. The velocity field may be explained by either an effectively stationary oblate triaxial model where the radio jet lies along the major axis perpendicular to the dust lane, or by an effectively stationary prolate model where the jet is not constrained to be perpendicular to the dust lane, but in either case the present warped dust lane configuration must be transient. It is shown that the dust lane can significantly affect the steepness of the rotation curve, the skew of the velocity field and the magnitude of the dispersion.