Omega Centauri-NGC-5139 (From the US)

[qcdougn]

I was very surprised to be able to view this cluster from the USA. It really is on the edge of the southern horizon. I managed only 2-20 sec. subs due to Murphy's Law all evening. I wish I could have salvaged the others. But, imaging in an open windy field, on a tripod and on battery supplies makes it a challenge. So, enough of the excuses... It's not a great image. But, then again I never expected to see it at all.

Doug Neal

[GazOC]

Very nice, its a biggie!!

[centroid]

Given the situation under which the image was captured, and being only 2x20 sec subs, I'd say that was a pretty fair result.

I can imagine, with a few more subs, it could well have been a 'cracker'.

Dave

[FLO]

M13 is great but that must be really special 8)

[CELESCOPE]

WOW FANTASTIC DOUG, thats a real nice image mate , jealous here ,wish i could get that one , but at least its nice seeing you get it mate .,we;ll done super work

Rog

[legion48]

Very nice. Only 2 frames? Very, very nice.

[Helen]

Thank you for reminding me how amazing this cluster is! Saw it from Africa this time last year and I must admit that M13 et al were a bit of a let down when I returned.

Helen

[maroon bells]

There's a lot of stars in there!

Out of interest where were you?

[qcdougn]

Thank you all for the nice comments... I took this from the local club dark site just on the South Carolina (West side) near Aiken. I found 7 more 20 sec. subs and factored them in to this photo. I had to sacrifice the stars on the right side to gain more detail and stars...So, it's a total of 3-minutes of exposure time.

Doug

[centroid]

There certainly seem to be some finer detail in there Doug, but a lot more 'noise' with it.

Have you subtracted a 'dark frame' ?

Dave

[qcdougn]

Dave,

Thanks for the observation...This is my quick go with it...It needs work, I admit... But, I'm satisfied with the 3-min. image for now.

Doug

[barkis]

You are lucky to get a sight of that monster glob. Doug, and you have made a great job of imaging it considering the low altitude.

I often wonder if I will ever get to see that wonder through a large southern hemisphere scope. Pictures are fine, but a live show has got to be a mind blower. I saw M13 through 18" Newt. at a starfest in N. Yorkshire a couple of years ago, and that sight is forever fixed in my mind. I think only a look at Omega Centauri would replace it.

Thanks for the pic. Doug.

Ron.

[Akyra]

I often wonder about globs, in terms of their structure are all its stars the same distance from us? Or are some brighter but further away than others?

[geppetto]

Fabulous object and expertly captured

Very nice

[GordonCopestake]

The naked eye glob is a thing of beauty. I only wish we had Omega Centauri in the Northen hemisphere. Great captures

[Astroman]

Thank you for reminding me how amazing this cluster is! Saw it from Africa this time last year and I must admit that M13 et al were a bit of a let down when I returned.

Helen

I know what you mean. Saw Omega Cen and Centaurus A from Mauna Kea. Seemed nearly straight overhead and knocked my socks off. Fortunately, I learned of the propeller in M13 afterward and gave me something else to look for there.

BTW, NASA has the number of stars in Omega Centauri at ~10 million. Yikes!

[barkis]

Thank you for reminding me how amazing this cluster is! Saw it from Africa this time last year and I must admit that M13 et al were a bit of a let down when I returned.

Helen

I know what you mean. Saw Omega Cen and Centaurus A from Mauna Kea. Seemed nearly straight overhead and knocked my socks off. Fortunately, I learned of the propeller in M13 afterward and gave me something else to look for there.

BTW, NASA has the number of stars in Omega Centauri at ~10 million. Yikes!

Did they also give an average distance between stars AM. I think I read somewhere that some of the M13 globular stars were a minimum of 1 Light Year, Pretty close.

Ron.

[Astroman]

At 16,000 ly distance, it would cover ~36' and be ~97 ly across. Ten million stars in 100 LY comes out as 100,000 stars per light year. That's packed in pretty tight. One caveat though, NASA lists its mass as 10 million solar masses, so there's probably less stars, some of them being mulitple solar masses. I generally quote 5 million stars of whatever mass, but still, that's 50,000 stars per LY. The 100 LY around us contains maybe 100 stars.