Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  NGC 5139  ·  Omega Centauri  ·  PGC 3082227  ·  PGC 47003  ·  PGC 47092  ·  PGC 47306  ·  PGC 491040  ·  PGC 491654  ·  PGC 507719  ·  PGC 511492  ·  PGC 512723  ·  omega Cen
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Omega Centauri, Paul Ricker
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Omega Centauri

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Omega Centauri, Paul Ricker
Powered byPixInsight

Omega Centauri

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Description

Omega Centauri, the largest globular cluster in orbit about the Milky Way, has a mass of about 4 million solar masses and a radius of about 26 pc, and it is about 4.8 kpc away. It's visible to the naked eye in a sufficiently dark location. Because of the spread of metallicities and ages of its stars, it's possible that Omega Centauri is actually the tidally disrupted core of a dwarf galaxy rather than a true globular cluster. I was surprised to be able to image this object only a few degrees above the horizon from southwestern New Mexico.

Image produced from exposures taken at the Casitas de Gila guest houses in SW New Mexico.

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  • Omega Centauri, Paul Ricker
    Original
  • Final
    Omega Centauri, Paul Ricker
    B

B

Description: Further processing to tame the color, starting from 1x1 binned stacks.

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Omega Centauri, Paul Ricker