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Deep sky duo (Omega Cen and NGC 4945)
NGC 4945 is an edge-on spiral galaxy that appears not far from The Southern Cross (Crux) in the sky, but is actually almost 12M light years (LY) distant from us. It's thought to be a similar size to the Milky Way.
Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. Also seen near to The Southern Cross (Crux) it lies ~15,800 LY from us. Like all globular clusters it is orbiting the centre of the Milky Way. Unlike other globular clusters it exhibits three distinct populations of stars and is now thought to be core of a long lost galaxy, cannibalised millions of years ago by the Milky Way.
Both images have been cropped to ~80% of their original size and comprise 60x 1 minute exposures at ISO 800. I used a 6" F/5 Newtonian reflector and Nikon D5100 camera with a GSO coma corrector and IDAS light pollution filter. Taken on the 14th of May, 2015 just north-west of Canberra.
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