Omega Centauri

E481658

Omega Centauri is the largest and brightest known globular star cluster in the Milky Way, visible to the naked eye and containing millions of ancient stars.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
NGC 5139 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf deep-sky object
globular cluster
stellar system
age_gyr about 12 billion years
alsoKnownAs Caldwell 80 NERFINISHED
NGC 5139 NERFINISHED
ω Centauri NERFINISHED
angularDiameter_arcmin about 36 arcminutes
apparentMagnitudeV 3.7
belongsTo Galactic halo
CaldwellNumber 80
catalog Caldwell catalogue NERFINISHED
New General Catalogue NERFINISHED
celestialHemisphere southern celestial hemisphere
classifiedAsGlobularClusterBy John Herschel NERFINISHED
contains ancient stars
millions of stars
declination_J2000 −47° 28′ 46″
discoveredBy Ptolemy NERFINISHED
discoveryEpoch antiquity
distanceFromEarth_kpc about 4.9 kiloparsecs
distanceFromEarth_ly about 15800 light-years
galacticLatitude_deg 14.97
galacticLongitude_deg 309.10
hasHypothesis may be remnant core of a dwarf galaxy
may host an intermediate-mass black hole
hasProperty brightest globular cluster in the Milky Way
flattened shape
high central stellar density
high velocity dispersion
largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way
multiple stellar populations
spread in metallicity among its stars
isTargetOf Gaia mission observations
Hubble Space Telescope observations
isVisibleTo naked eye
linearDiameter_ly about 150 light-years
locatedIn Milky Way
constellation Centaurus
mass_solarMasses about 4 million solar masses
metallicity_FeH about −1.6
NGCNumber 5139
observedIn X-ray wavelengths
infrared wavelengths
optical wavelengths
orbits Milky Way center NERFINISHED
rightAscension_J2000 13h 26m 47.3s
spectralTypeDominant K-type giants

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Centaurus constellation region contains Omega Centauri
this entity surface form: NGC 5139
Centaurus containsDeepSkyObject Omega Centauri