| NGC 5139 - Omega Centauri (Globular Cluster) Caldwell: 80, Constellation: Centaurus (The Centaur), Equatorial 2000: RA: 13h 27m Dec: -47°27' Distance: 17,300 light years, Visual Magnitude: 3.9, Diameter: 55 arc mins Transits at the end of twilight at 6:52pm 4 July, Elevation 74 degrees, due South |
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Omega Centauri orbits our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is one of the few globular clusters that can be seen with the naked eye, and is both the brightest and the largest known globular cluster associated with the Milky Way and contains several million Population II stars. The stars in its center are so crowded that they are believed to be only 0.1 light years away from each other. It is about 12 billion years old. |
| - Imaged on 20090801 - 150mm C Lens - 200 video frames with no filter x128 integration - rough polar alignment, 83% moon, elevation about 52 degrees - aligned, stacked and sharpened in Registax 5.0 - levels adjusted in Photoshop 7.0 |