Ngc5139

[radu5er]

Good evening all

Outside tonight, evening meal internalized and iceinspace cap firmly in place, I began observing the southern sky from my backyard in the vicinity of the crux et al. As I was looking over the area of Centaurus I noticed a faint object out of the corner of my optically unassisted eyes.

Looking at my planisphere I saw that this object was possibly a globular cluster. I began slowly searching this area with my tripod mounted binoculars. Before long I saw what appeared to be a circular blob of stars. I scanned around for a while but I kept coming back to this object.

After consulting my Cambridge star atlas and, although I may be mistaken I have come to the conclusion that I have seen the GC Omega Centauri.

As you may have guessed, I have been very excited by this in that it is my first globular cluster. I went back outside and sure enough, found it again with much less effort this time. I have looked at some photos on the web and it does indeed look like this is what I have seen with my inexpensive binos and averted vision naked eyes.

I am sure most of you have had similar experiences in your early astronomy careers and may find this observation quite tame. However it appears that this 'sky watching business' is beginning to gain a rather firm grip on me and most of my 'clear sky' time is spent outdoors peering at the heavens.


Thanks to all for your patience, encouragement and advice.

[erick (Eric)]

Super, Rick! Yes, I was thrilled the first time I found Omega Centauri. Now you and I must have be looking at it the same time tonight! I had the 30x100s out to acquaint my visiting sister with the sky - a clear night, finally! Even in Melbourne's skyglow, it's quite a sight.

Then I flipped across to the other side of the south celestial pole and located 47 Tuc. See if you can find that globular. At the moment, you ned to wait until mid evening, else it may be a bit low in the sky for good viewing. Compare the globulars!

Have fun!

[DougAdams]

Nice post, Rick. It's nice to read some naked eye and binocular stuff here.

I was out Monday and Tuesday in Melbourne (cold, but very clear and steady) and had a blast. Saturn Nebula, various Messiers around Sag and Sco, and Neptune (tricky) and Uranus (easier).

And that IceInSpace beanie is very handy - it does the job!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Rick,

Objects as stunning as Omega Centauri NEVER get boring. I have seen it hundreds of times and yet I still say 'WOW' when I look at it. It is on my 'usual' list.

I look at it in Binocs and scope with various EP's. Each different FOV is spectacular.

Good to hear your excitement!

[GrahamL]

thats great rick

while your in centauris have a try for these two galaxys
when you can get somewhere nice and dark
I drew this quick so its rough as .

picture a T on its side I've omitted all others stars here, a line through
omega cen joining two brightish stars top and botom make the top of the T
back to omega cen and a line perpendicular out the bottom.
that star by itself at the base is pretty easy to spot in the sky as theres not much else visible around it.The faint triangular shape of the star group
(4945) lies in is visible to the eye below omega cen.

good luck