Omega Centauri

This photo of Omega Centauri, the brightest and largest globular cluster in the sky, was obtained with the Danish 1.5 m telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory. It shows the central part only; the cluster is actually much larger than the field reproduced here. At a distance of about 16,500 light-years, the diameter of the field corresponds to a linear distance of about 90 light-years. Within this area, there are hundreds of thousands of stars which belong to the cluster.

A recent investigation carried out with the CORAVEL instrument, also attached to this telescope, has shown that the total mass of Omega Centauri is in excess of 5 million solar masses, making it by far the most massive cluster of its type on the Milky Way galaxy.

Herkunftsnachweis:

ESO

Über das Bild

ID:eso9411a
Typ:Beobachtung
Veröffentlichungsdatum:27. Mai 1994
Dazugehörige Veröffentlichungen:eso9411
Größe:400 x 349 px

Über das Objekt

Name:Omega Centauri
Typ:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Entfernung:17000 Lichtjahre
Constellation:Phoenix
Kategorie:Star Clusters

Bildformate

Großes JPEG
89,4 KB

Bildschirm-Hintergrundbilder

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Koordinaten

Position (RA):23 50 30.60
Position (Dec):-43° 26' 2.96"

Farben & Filter

SpektralbereichWellenlängeTeleskop
Optisch
B
465 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope