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> The globular cluster Omega Centauri, NGC 5139
The globular cluster Omega Centauri, NGC 5139
author: ESO/EIS/Novapix
reference: a-agb51-39012
Image Size 300 DPI: 68 * 64 cm
The globular cluster Omega Centauri — with as many as ten million stars — is seen in all its splendour in this image captured with the WFI camera from ESO's La Silla Observatory. The image shows only the central part of the cluster — about the size of the full moon on the sky (half a degree). North is up, East is to the left. This colour image is a composite of B, V and I filtered images. Note that because WFI is equipped with a mosaic detector, there are two small gaps in the image which were filled with lower quality data from the Digitized Sky Survey. Containing millions of stars, this globular cluster is located roughly 17 000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus. Omega Centauri is about 150 light-years across; it is the most massive of all the Milky Way's globular clusters and thought to be around 12 billion years old.
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