This spectacular globular cluster is located in the constellation Centaurus. When viewed through an eyepiece, to say that his globular is impressive would be an understatement. The huge extent of pinpoint stars seen appear to go on forever and is beyond description. It is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way, and a treat to view at the eyepiece or explore within an image. It should be worth noting that Omega Centauri is almost as large as a full moon.
A striking feature is the enormous amount of blue stars visible in the image. These “Blue Straggler Stars” are usually hot bright stars found in the cores of ancient star clusters. However, they appear to violate standard theories of stellar evolution. Typically stars created at the same time should lie on a clearly defined curve plotted in a Hertzsprung Russell diagram. Specifically, their positions on that curve are determined by their initial mass. But for some reason, Blue Stragglers are positioned well off this curve, suggesting that they may have undergone some abnormal stellar evolution. So far, this is not fully understood.
There are stars near the core that are estimated to average only 0.1 light-years away from each other. Gee, that would be a terrible place to try and get a good nights sleep.
Equipment Details:
•10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1
•Astro Physics AP-900 Mount
•SBIG STL 11000m
•FLI Filter Wheel
•Astrodon LRGB Filters
Exposure Details:
•Red 600X7 / 300X24 Binned 1X1
•Green 300X12 Binned 1X1
•Blue 600X6 / 300X24 Binned 1X1
•Lum 600X23 / 300X12 Binned 1X1
Total Time: 10 hours
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