From Coe, Omega Centauri and Centaurus A

by Rich Neuschaefer

Last Saturday (Mar. 1st), at Coe, several of us were up late enough to see Omega Centauri and Centauarus A. I found Omega Centauri with my Orion 15x63 binocular and then found it with my AP 155EDFS. Mark suggested I try Centaurus A. It was up a little higher than had remembered but it could be seen in the wet skyglow.

Omega Centauri was a large, bright, round, unresolved spot in my 6" scope. I was using a 27mm Panoptic giving about 40x. Centaurus A was quite a bit smaller and dimmer. You could just make out the big dust lane. The dust lane was much easier to see last Spring from MB. At MB the sky in that direction is much darker. Form Coe we were looking over the glow from Gilroy and Hollister.

With Iota Centauri transiting, Omega Centauri is almost straight down from Iota. It is below Iota a little more than the distance between the two eastern stars in the box of Corvus.

If you draw a line through the two eastern stars of the box of Corvus it will pass a little west of Omega Centauri.

I suggest finding Omega Centauri with 8x42 or 10x50 binoculars. The 15x63 binocular I used made the job more difficult with its smaller field of view.