omega Centauri (and 47Tucanae)

omega Centauri (and 47Tucanae)

Enlarge

Description

omega Centauri is one of the gems of the southern skies in the constellaton Centauri. It was originally thought to be a star by Ptolemy, a nebula by Halley in 1677, and finally a globular cluster by Herschel ~1830. omega Centauri is unusual and is considered to be a dwarf galaxy stripped of its outer stars due to a collision with our Milky Way. It is about 10 times larger than most globular clusters, contains several generations of stars, and may be harboring a black hole. Stars are moving very fast in the core, suggesting the presence of a black hole based upon HST and Gemini South data.
There is a wonderful, animated image on the ESA site zooming into omega Centauri at :http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMPGM5QGEF_index_0.html. It is a joy to watch.
The above image is ~ 40′ x 40′. Only unbinned RGB data were used at a plate scale of 0.65"/pixel. Registar counts 22,394 stars in the omega Centauri image.
Here is an interesting side-by-side comparison of 47Tucanae and omega Centauri, taken nights apart with the same system at MRO (click on link to enlarge; large file ~1.7MB)

Image Date: 05/11/2008
Details: Exposure Time: 110 min; 40 min B, 30 min R,G Astrodon Gen2
Camera: Apogee  U16M
Telescope: RC Optical  Carbon 12.5 inch f/9 Ritchey-Chretien
Mount: Software Bisque  Paramount ME

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *