Deep-sky object
Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri is a globular cluster 15 800 light-years away, in Centaurus, about 170 light-years across, seen as it was 15 800 years ago.
The biggest globular cluster in the sky, ten million stars, so large it may be the stripped core of a small galaxy.
See it live
It is on the live 3D map, where it really is.
Key facts
- Type
- globular cluster
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Distance
- 15 800 light-years
- Size
- about 170 light-years across
- Brightness from Earth
- magnitude 3.9
- Catalogue
- NGC 5139
See it from here
Bright enough to see with your own eyes from a dark place.
How the map draws it
Drawn as a soft glow in the manner of its kind at its measured distance, as wide as it measures; the pattern in it is illustrative and its true shape is not drawn — the kind of thing, not this exact one.