Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5139  ·  NGC 5206  ·  omega Cen
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NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), Centaurus, Thomas V. Davis
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NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), Centaurus

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NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), Centaurus, Thomas V. Davis
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NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), Centaurus

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NGC5139 Omega Centauri, Centaurus

Astro-Physics 155 EDF (155TCC) f/5.4 refractor

KAF-16803; FLI Proline

Total Exposure Time: 4.6+ hours; LRGB 115:55:55:55 minutes, unbinned

February 2009; RDO, Moorook, AU

Comments: This is the biggest of all globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. With its about 5 million solar masses, it is about 10 times as massive as other big globulars, and has about the same mass as the smallest whole galaxies. It is also the most luminous Milky Way globular, and the brightest globular cluster in the sky. In the Local Group, it is outshined only by the brightest globular cluster G1 in the Andromeda Galaxy M31. In 1999, a team led by Young-Wook Lee of Yonsei University, South Korea, obtained a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for 50,000 member stars of Omega Centauri with the 0.9-m telescope of CTIO in Chile. Studies of this CMD indicate that the stars of this cluster did not all form at once but over a 2-billion-year period of time, with several starburst peaks. This was the first time that multiple populations were found in a globular cluster. The team who carried out this work speculates that this result may indicate that Omega Centauri might be the remnant of a nucleus of a small galaxy which has merged with our Milky Way .

Interestingly, there is faint dust or flux nebulosity in this region that I haven't seen before in any image. I suspect that it gets processed out. This dust is in the lower right portion of the image. It is very faint and can be seen if you look at the screen from the right side instead of directly in front. It really is there!

This image was NASA APOD March 1, 2009.

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NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), Centaurus, Thomas V. Davis