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NGC 5139 - Omega Centauri

 

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2800x2100)

Scope: ES Mak Newt 152 mm at f/4.8, Location: Laguna Mountains, CA,   15 May 2010  Camera: SBIG ST8300M

Exposure:  15 x 2 minutes (1x1 bin) Luminance exposures with IR block,  10 x 1/1/1.5 minutes RGB exposures (2x2).

Processing: Images were captured with CCDSoft. Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine.  All channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart.  Central Gradient was removed on all channels in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. The 2 minute IR block exposures were used for the main luminance construction with level adjustments and curves to bring out object features.   LRGB combine was done in Photoshop. G2V  factors and Atmospheric Extinction factors applied to color channels.  Background noise reduction was applied in Pix isight LE (SGBNR).   Final touches and color balance in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 3352x2532 (resized to 2800x2100).

North is to the right in this image. The image was guided for all exposures. Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is believed to be the largest Globular Cluster in  our galaxy, the Milky Way. It spans 36 arc minutes of the night sky - this is slightly larger than a full moon and contains several million stars. Omega Centauri is so different from other globular clusters, it is believed to have a different origin. Some have speculated that it is a remnant core of  a smaller galaxy swallowed up by our Milky Way galaxy. Omega Centauri is approximately 16,000 light years distant from Earth. This image  replaces an earlier image that can be seen here.  Horizontal FOV is 80'.

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 13h 26m 48s Dec: -47°29'00"

 

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