NGC 5139 Omega Centauri

[vonm (Vaughn)]

Hi all,

I'm very much a newbie at this. Just got my scope up and working since last week and had good views of saturn and mars (although very small).

I've been using the book "Turn left at Orion" as a guide, according to which, NGC 5139 should be one of the most interesting things to see in the southern hemisphere being the largest globular cluster.

Can I actually see this from my location in suburban Melbourne? Or will I need to be in a dark non light polluted place? I believe I found it to be nothing more than blurred area in space, rather disappointing. Am I missing something here?

What else is of interest up there I can take a look at? So far I've seen Mars and Saturn, and split Alpha Centauri.

Cheers,

Vaughn

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi Vaughn, along to IIS.
Can you give us some details on your scope please.
The size and detail of objects is dependent on a number of things, the scope being just one of them.
Mars is always small, requires high magnification through any scope and good seeing conditions to be at it's best.

Saturn is of course quite stunning, Jupiter as well although we will have to wait till that is in a better position later on in the year.
Big Globs like Omega C and 47Tuc are quite diffuse object and yes, light pollution can have quite a detrimental effect on them and other objects as well.

The southern hemisphere has plenty of quite spectacular tragets and if you haven't got it already I'd suggest you download Stellarium (free) and use that to find and identify objects that are visible from your location.
Check out M42 in Orion, an early morning object at present but in the new year one of the most spectacular sights.

Suzy will probably chip in shortly and give you a list of objects a mile long to keep you really busy. So hang around, ask questions, plenty of help to be found round here.

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Took shots of Omega last night through my ED80. But visually it's just a fuzzy white patch. You might want to look at adding a camera to really appreciate what's out there.
See my M8 posted. Also a 1st shot for me.
Get yourself a phone app to help locate if you haven't already. I'm using sky safari.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Omega Centauri is a bit awkward at the moment - it rises at 04:50 am and sets at 09:33 pm (September 22 Brisbane time), so you'll only get a very brief window of opportunity, very low in the south-west, early in the evening.

47 Tucanae is almost as big and spectacular, and is much better positioned for easy viewing high in the southern sky (about 40 to 45 degrees above the southern horizon through the mid- to late evening).

As zeroID said - get yourself a planetarium app, program in your location, and it will give you a detailed list of good targets each evening. Stellarium is a good choice for a computer, but something SkySafari is brilliant for phones and tablets, which is really handy for a guide outdoors while your are observing.

[zenith (Tim)]

Hi Vaughn,

I am in the Melbourne suburbs as well, and I have found that targets like Omega Centauri can vary significantly from night to night, getting reactions from "wow that's amazing" to "no, that's ****, I am going inside".
Try the Jewel Box, Kappa Crucis Cluster, NGC 4755, which is an open cluster in the constellation Crux. Also try M6, M7, and NGC 6231 in Scorpio. These are easy to find open clusters and will look nice in all scopes.
It took me about 6 months to learn how to actually observe what is in the eyepiece. A bar-stool so you can be comfortable and let the object drift across the eyepiece a few times and catch that moment when the atmosphere settles and seeing is excellent. Averted vision is also a useful thing to read up about and practice for the fainter objects.
Epsilon Lyra is a nice "double-double" star, but you need a good northern horizon.

Good luck.

[vonm (Vaughn)]

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

I guess I will need to get away from the light pollution one of these nights.

Zeroid, regarding the scope, its an 8" reflector on a dobsonian mount, 1000mm focal length, fast at f5. Recently purchased the following eyepieces: Meade 14mm UWA (82°), 9.5mm ED (55°), GSO 26mm 2", Orion flat field 19mm (68°), GSO SV 15mm & 2x barlow.

[MattT]

Good scope. In that case hit it with some magnification….and being Melbourne some nights it will look like a blob and other nights it will look like a glob should. Best view I get is in my 6" refractor (my favourite scope) with a 14mm eyepiece or 10" reflector with a 10mm eyepiece so that means 120x... I think….can't remember really, I'm terrible with numbers. I tend to put eyepieces in and out, and what looks good…looks good, no real idea as to the actual magnification
Matt

[G58 (Glenn)]

I think Omega Centuri is one of the best objects in the night sky, looks great when the seeing is good, keep trying you should be able to get good views with scope like yours

[vonm (Vaughn)]

Can't wait to view it again when conditions are better. It's a patience game what with the Melbourne weather.