The multicolor snapshot, at top, taken with Wide Field Camera 3 aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, captures the central region of the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri. All the stars in the image are moving in random directions, like a swarm of bees. Astronomers used Hubble's exquisite resolving power to measure positions for stars in 2002 and 2006.
From these measurements, they can predict the stars' future movement. The bottom illustration charts the future positions of the stars highlighted by the white box in the top image. Each streak represents the motion of the star over the next 600 years. The motion between dots corresponds to 30 years.
Credits
Illustration: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI);Science: NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson and R. van der Marel (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Omega Centauri, NGC 5139, Omega Cen |
| Object Description | Globular Star Cluster |
| R.A. Position | 13h 26m 47.2s |
| Dec. Position | -47° 28' 46.44" |
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Distance | 16,000 light-years or 4,800 parsecs |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The Hubble images were created from data from the calibration proposal : E. Sabbi, J. Kim Quijano, and L. Dressel (STScI). The proper motions of stars in the cluster were obtained from the following ACS proposals: A. Cool (San Francisco State Univ.), J. Anderson (STScI), C. Bailyn (Yale Univ.), J. Carlin (San Francisco Univ.), P. Edmonds (Eureka Scientific), J. Grindlay (Harvard Univ.), and D. Haggard (Univ. of Washington); : J. Anderson (STScI) and I. King (Univ. of Washington); and : A. Sarajedini (Univ. of Florida), J. Anderson (STScI), A. Aparicio (Inst. de Astrofisica de Canarias), L. Bedin (STScI), B. Chaboyer (Dartmouth College), I. King (Univ. of Washington), S. Majewski (Univ. of Virginia), G. Piotto (Univ. of Padua), N. Reid (STScI), A. Rosenberg (Inst. de Astrofisica de Canarias), and M. Siegel (Univ. of Texas, Austin) |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | ACS: June 27-30, 2002, December 11, 2004, and June 22, 2006 WFC3/UVIS: July 15, 2009, Exposure Time: 2.7 hours |
| Filters | F225W (U), F275W (U), F336W (U), F438W (B), F606W (V), and F814W (I) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F225W (U) Green: F336W (U) Red: F814W (I) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
