Centaurus

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Abbreviation: Cen

English Name: The Centaur

Genitive: Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri)

Hemisphere: Southern Hemisphere (Never visible from the UK.)

Location: Between the constellations of Lupus and Hydra.

Visible between latitudes: +30 and -90 degrees

Best season: Spring

Seen in three seasons: Winter, Spring and Summer

Best seen in: During in the middle of May

Seen between: April and June

Right Ascension (RA): 13 hour

Declination (DEC): -50 degrees

Area (square degrees): 1,060 (9th)

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Centaurus (The Centaur)

Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky – one of the largest constellations with 13 stars above magnitude +3.5.
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Centaurus contains several very bright stars because of its position in theÂ Milky Way.

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Messier Objects in Centaurus

No Messier objects in Carina

More objects in Centaurus

Features of Interest

NGC 5139 – Omega Centauri; also known as Caldwell 80 (C80), is a Globular Cluster – brightest and largest known of all the Globular Cluster. And one of the few globular clusters visible to the naked eye and appears about as large as the Full Moon.
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NGC 5128 – Centaurus A; also known as Caldwell 77 (C77) – this unusual galaxy with a dark dust lane, is only visible from low northern latitudes, not visible from the UK.
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NGC 4945 – Large spiral galaxy is seen edge-on; in fact it’s almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
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NGC 5286 – Globular Cluster; described as very bright, fairly large round and extremely rich.
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NGC 3766 – Open Cluster, very dense and shimmers like a Pearl which is how it got it’s nickname:- The Pearl Cluster.

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Named Stars

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IAU Sky Chart: Centaurus

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(24 constellations above can never be seen from the UK.)

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