I've tried spotting Omega from close to 40 deg N, but my dark site with a very low horizon to the south also looks towards the light dome of Atlantic City, NJ, so I haven't succeeded from there yet.I should also note that when spotting Omega Centauri from our mid-northern latitudes and Omega is near the meridian, one should also swing the binoculars up about 4.5 degrees and spot the peculiar galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128). I'll definitely give it a try from my 35th parallel. April 1986, with fellow amateur Michael Ritchie. I was happy just to spot it on my 10" Dob!Thanks for your enthusiastic comments and descriptions. With a good eyesight and careful attention, you can spot what appears to be an object that’s not starlike but a small fuzzy ball (which, in reality, contains billions of stars).The second image, taken with a DSLR camera and a 300-mm lens, gives a decent impression of how Omega Centauri looks when as seen with binoculars. The best times to go out and see Omega Centauri from anywhere south of Florida begin in the evening hours of March and April. Having a mass of perhaps 5 million suns, Omega Cen is 10 times more massive than a typical globular cluster — and it’s 230 light-years across.This object got the name “Omega” inadvertently. For those who live around mid-latitudes (35° to 40° north), the Big Dipper is high in the north after sunset, while Arcturus and Spica shine toward south. Apparently there is a small dark area between the light domes of Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, across Lake Erie, and that's where Omega has been seen.In further reference to the Canada-US border, the border only becomes the 49th parallel west of the Great Lakes and through to the west coast of British Columbia. At that altitude, murkiness just above the horizon can have a considerable deteriorating effect on the view, even if the sky in general is clear.
Best appreciated with a telescope, Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest of all globular star clusters, is a globe-shaped stellar city, teeming with millions of stars!Omega Centauri star cluster, the finest globular star cluster visible in Earth’s skies. He also writes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York. So, to see it, you’ll need a very clear and dark sky without haze or much light pollution.Start your search for this spectacular object with Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. Omega Centauri looks like a fairly faint (and possibly fuzzy) star. I have seen Omega Center a couple of times from about latitude 38.6 N. Once when Comet Halley passed near it in April 1986, and one other time since. I am sure it can be and has been seen from at least a couple of degrees further north than my location.
near Rome (Italy).Sky & Telescope is part of AAS Sky Publishing, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Located at a distance of 15,800 light-years (4,850 pc), it is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. Find link is a tool written by Edward Betts.. searching for Omega Centauri 12 found (74 total) alternate case: omega Centauri Texas Star Party (562 words) exact match in snippet view article find links to article Award (for personal achievement, accomplishment, and expertise) and The Omega Centauri Award (for public awareness and/or promotion of astronomy). The one above gives a good impression of what you might see by eye. Finding Spica can lead you to this magnificent star cluster. But the evening sky continues to show a lot of interesting deep-sky objects of all kinds.
)You have a chance if your latitude is no farther north than 40°. Start your search for this spectacular object with Spica, the brightest star in Virgo.