Centaurus is one of the bright constellations in our southern hemisphere. It spends its time chasing our very own Crux across the sky (maybe trying to catch the fly Musca). Unlike other southern constellations this one has some Greek mythology to it. Centaurus is of course a Centaur, the mythical creature which is half horse and half human. This one is said to be Chiron, a centaur who was tutor to Jason (or Argo naught fame) and Heracles (son of Zeus).
The constellation has numerous objects of interest including galaxies like Centaurus A and one of the biggest globular clusters you are ever likely to see NCG 5139 or Omega Cent. which is a large bright densely packed globular. Of course one should not fail to mention that one of the best know doubles are in this constellation too, that being Alpha Centaurus which is actually a tripple having Proxima Cent gravitationally bound to it. Proxima Cent. is the nearest star to our solar system.
... and so on with our list.
1.alpha centuari: a double that need no introduction. everyone knows this super-brilliant double or should i say tripple and it is of course the first stopping point in out excursion.
2.dun159 5.03/7.59, 8.9": just a little distance away is a red and white pair. the primary star is the white one. they look good together and the nearby star makea an optical tripplet.
3. hj 4676 8.8/9.6, 20": cartes du ciel puts this in a dim open cluster (ngc 5606) its not too hard to fin this lovely little cluster or the double within, so enjoy the view.
4.r223 6.58/9.85, 2.6": an easy split under good conditions and hard under poor... i had poor. in moments of stillness i could spit this 2 at 166x magnification though. both appear to be yellow.
5. hj4576 7.09/10, 5.6": the secondary is getting to the limit of my scope at mag 10. the primary though is quite bright enough. bad seeing will see the secondary get wiped out by the primary dispite the distance.
6. dun141 5.03/6.53, 5.5": here we go! two white stars, one slightly brighter than the other star out at you like a pair of glowing eyes. this double is quite pretty and worth the visit. i used 166 magnification to easily split them.
7.cpo13 7.21/9.2, 4.8": just a hop, skip and jump away from the galaxy ncg4945 is this double. another easy split in any small telescope the primary is an easy white while the second is posibley white or blue... but stop inat the galaxy anyhow.
8. hdo225 4.65/11, 44": yeah i know, so far apart! and the secondary is so dim! how can that look good? well i amnot pointing you to this double because its a wide binary with a sec thats so faint i could ony just make it out... just have a look for yourself. its a double of a different kind i am looking at. this is one of my favourite objects in the sky.
9.cpo61 7.36/7.43, 30": near identicle twin this is a low power double of 2 white stars.
10. hj 4460 7.23/8.22, 8.76": this couple can be split a low powers but would look better at higher power. the primary is white and the secondary is red.
11.hld114 7.36/7.81, 3.3": close in colour and proximity these require a moderate amount of power to split. both aprea to be yellow in colour.
