Omega Centauri, NGC 5139, the largest globular cluster in our sky

Located in the constellation Centaurus, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is the largest globular cluster in apparent size in our Milky Way galaxy.

This is the second target visible only (for the most part…) in the southern hemisphere I have imaged since moving to South Africa. Omega Centauri is especially impressive to me coming from the USA and being used to M13, the Hercules globular cluster, which used to seem big.

Image details

Data acquired on 2013-12-31
23x 2min ISO400
Calibrated with dark, flat, and bias frames

Equipment used

Orion 8″ Astrograph
Baader MPCC coma corrector
Canon t2i / 550D DSLR (Baader IR modded)
Celestron CGEM DX mount
Orion SSAG + 50mm finder/guider

Software

Data acquired with BackyardEOS
Guiding with PhD
Calibration, alignment, integration, and post-processing with PixInsight