Deep sky · Globular cluster in Centaurus · NGC 5139
Globular cluster
ω Cen Cluster
Omega Centauri, the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way: ten million stars — and perhaps the core of a galaxy the Milky Way ate.
- Type
- Globular cluster
- Designations
- NGC 5139
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.3
- Apparent size
- 55′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 13h 27m · Dec −47° 29′
History
Ptolemy catalogued it as a star. Edmond Halley saw it was fuzzy in 1677.
Science
It has stars of several different ages and chemistries, unlike a normal globular. In 2024 astronomers found stars racing around its centre that point to a middle-sized black hole.