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Old 23-06-2015, 10:00 PM
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Allan
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 937
Omega Centauri - NGC 5139

Omega Centauri is one of my favourite deep sky objects, and along with 47 Tucanae, one of the best 2 globular clusters in the sky (IMO). It shines at magnitude 3.7 and is an easy naked eye object, appearing as a luminous patch in the sky. It is 15,600 light years away and contains several million stars.

An interesting detail I have tried to show in the sketch are the "eyes" in the centre of the cluster, which are always burnt out in photo images. They are not immediately obvious for first time observers, but eventually become apparent as areas devoid of resolvable stars. It appears as if you are looking through them and into the core of the cluster.
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