NGC 5139 - Omega Centauri (2004)

An earlier attempt at Omega Centauri, shot only 7 degrees above the horizon a month before a wider-field, higher attempt later that year.

Location: Copperbreaks Star Park near Quanah, Texas

Date and Time: April 17, 2004 @ 12:30 AM

Seeing: 8/10

Transparency: 7/10

Equipment: Tak FSQ-106 @ f/5 on Tak NJP mount

Camera: SBIG ST-10xme

Exposure Info: Grayscale (5 x 5 minutes)

Processing Information: Calibration, deblooming and registration in MaxIm DL 3. Digital development, Lucy-Richardson Deconvolution (10 iterations), and Background Compensation in Images Plus. Unsharp Mask, Curves and cropping in Photoshop CS.

Extra Notes: Wind gusts of around 20 mph during time of exposure. Object was taken only 7 degrees from horizon in the midst of skyglow from a small town (Crowell, TX). Seeing was exceptional for an image this low. Thanks to Dr. Fred Koch for the use of the NJP mount and ST10xme camera.

About this Object

One of the good things about living in Texas is that we can see this gem just above our horizon. Perhaps the grandest globular cluster of them all, Omega Centauri is compact and slightly oval in shape, shining at a naked eye brightness of 4th magnitude with an angular size that approximates our own moon at full phase. Millions and millions of stars comprise this beauty of an object which is easily resolved by even small aperture scopes, that is as long as the object is high enough at Northern latitudes to avoid atmospheric interference.

🤖 AI-drafted · unverified

What it is: NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, is the largest and brightest globular cluster orbiting the Milky Way, containing an estimated 10 million stars. From mid-northern latitudes it only skims the southern horizon.
Constellation: Centaurus
Distance: ~17,090 light-years
Apparent magnitude: 3.7
Angular size: ~36 arcminutes
Coordinates: RA 13h 26m 47s, Dec -47° 28′ 46″

This summary was generated by an AI assistant from general astronomical references, not from Jay's own notes on this specific image. Treat every detail above as a starting point for research, not settled fact.