Paul and Liz Downing, from their observatory in southern Spain (latitude 36[degrees] 51' 42" N, longitude 3[degrees] 15m 30s W--see Journal 117(6), 2007), are able to observe both globulars--albeit with
Omega Centauri considerably closer to the horizon--and their images, made at the same scale, are shown here.
"That this is indeed the case for
Omega Centauri was demonstrated from observations by C.
The globular star cluster
Omega Centauri has caught the attention of sky watchers ever since the ancient astronomer Ptolemy first catalogued it 2,000 years ago.
She says that
Omega Centauri may have collided at some earlier time with another cluster to create the mix of ultraviolet intensities and the lower-than-expected core density apparent in the globular cluster today.
Now, new observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini observatories have indicated that there is a medium sized black hole sitting at
Omega Centauri's centre.
Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) hugs our horizon in May and can be seen as a very pale, very large, unresolved circular glow.
Incredible showpieces such as the Eta Carina Nebula,
Omega Centauri, the Coal Sack, 47 Tucanae, and countless other objects that are hidden below the horizon back home, are in full view from Chile.
We chuckled when we read Fred Schaafs comment about observing
Omega Centauri from latitude 41[degrees] north ("A Star by Any Other Name," June issue, page 40).
In commemoration, why not try to observe an object that Halley's Comet passed near in April 1986: the great globular cluster
Omega Centauri? It had been cataloged as a star for more than a millennium before Edmond Halley first realized that it's actually a cluster.
Next month I'll discuss two other celestial objects with Halley connections--the far-south star Beta Carinae and not-so-far-south globular cluster
Omega Centauri.