Key facts
- Category
- Star clusters
- Object class
- Globular cluster
- Composition
- ~10 million stars
- Scale fact
- 150 lydiameter
- Estimated age
- ~11.5 billion years
- Host
- Milky Way
Omega Centauri
150 lydiameter
Details
Omega Centauri is the Milky Way’s biggest globular cluster and one of the few such swarms visible to the naked eye. Its stars do not all share the same age or chemistry, which is one reason many astronomers suspect it may be the stripped core of a small galaxy rather than an ordinary cluster.
Omega Centauri is the Milky Way’s most massive globular cluster, containing millions of stars within a region about 150 light-years across. Unlike a simple single-age cluster, it contains several stellar populations with different chemical abundances and formation histories.
Those populations have led to the hypothesis that Omega Centauri is the surviving nucleus of a dwarf galaxy stripped by the Milky Way. The interpretation is plausible but not settled, so it remains classified as a globular cluster rather than a confirmed galactic remnant.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Omega Centauri on Wikipedia
- Universe journey
- Orion Arm
Size neighbors
Objects near Omega Centauri on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Omega Centauri falls between Eagle Nebula and Carina Nebula. The band uses nearby Star clusters records.
Shared physical scale
115ly
Sources
References for Omega Centauri
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Omega Centauri — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (La Silla Observatory 2008 / ESO, CC BY 4.0)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.