Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) - 2023-02-18 - Winter Star Party

This object is a globular cluster that was first identified as non-stellar by Edmond Halley in 1677. It is 17,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. This is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way Galaxy's halo with a diameter of about 150 light-years, and it is comprised of approximately 10 million stars that orbit a common center of gravity. The cluster is 12 billion years old and contans 4 million times the sun's mass. This is a very dense cluster with individual stars packed very closely to one another. The average distance between two stars is about 0.1 light year. This compares to our Sun's nearest stellar neighbor, which is 4 light years away.

Omega Centauri's appears in Earth's sky as a 3.9 magnitude object that is 36 arcminutes in diameter. This means that it can be seen with the unaided eye appearing as a fuzzy star-like object, and with a small telescope appearing about the same size as the full moon. As this is a southern hemisphere constellation, it is best observed from southern locations like the Florida Keys or even further south.

The small galaxies that can be seen within the frame have a reddish appearance that is due to the object being situatued close to the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. This is because higher concentrations of dust and gas in this direction more easily pass red light while scattering other colors of the spectrum.

Observing Report for February 17/18, 2023

Trip Report for Winter Star Party, February 13 - 19, 2023, Scout Key, Florida.

EQUIPMENT
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro/EFW 2" x 7 (LRGB)
Tele Vue NP101is/Large Field Corrector (4", f/5.4)
Losmandy G11

Autoguiding with PHD2

CAPTURE
Object was about 17 degrees above the horizon when captured at approximately 0300 local time.

Captured in NINA (1 hour total integration)
L: 95 x 20s
RGB: 30 each filter x 20s

PROCESSING
PixInsight with WBPP, DBE, LinearFit, SPCC, BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, and HDRMT.

Taken in: United States / Florida / Howards Haven Mobile Home Park (show map)

Taken on: February 18, 2023

Tags:

Omega Centauri

globular cluster

YBS23Nature

NINA

Tele Vue

Losmandy

ZWO

ASI6200MM-P

PixInsight

Milky Way

Florida

Florida Keys

Scout Key

Winter Star Party

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