Constellation Chart

The Centaur

Centaurus is one of several constellations that deal with the Labours of Heracles. In the Fourth Labour, Heracles' assignment was to bring back a rampaging wild boar that was bringing death and destruction to the inhabitants of the northern part of the Peloponnesian peninsula. On his way, he stops to visit a friend of his, a Centaur named Pholus. Centaurs were half-men, half-horse, who had all descended from Ixion and Nephele (who was in fact a cloud, shaped by Zeus to resemble his wife Hera). Centaurs were featured in a number of Greek myths, but by and large remained on the periphery of Greek fable.

Galaxies In Centaurus

NGC 4650

Explanation: This strangely distorted galaxy of stars is cataloged as NGC 4650A. It lies about 165 million light-years away in the southern constellation Centaurus. The complex system seems to have at least two parts, a flattened disk of stars with a dense, bright, central core and a sparse, sharply tilted ring of gas, dust and stars. Observations show that the stars in the disk and the stars and gas in the ring really do move in two different, nearly perpendicular planes, probably as the result of a past galaxy vs. galaxy collision. The observed motions within both disk and ring also indicate the presence of "dark matter" - an unseen source of gravity which influences the movement of this system's visible stars. Over the decades evidence that our Universe is largely composed of such dark matter has grown while the nature of dark matter has remained a profound astrophysical mystery. The picture was constructed from images made using part of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) new Very Large Telescope system now undergoing its testing phase.

Centaurus A is a giant galaxy with three times the stellar population of our Milky Way (itself a very large galaxy). While possessing the size and shape of a giant elliptical galaxy, it also has dust lanes and blue stars more typical of a spiral galaxy. In addition to being very bright optically, it is also an extremely powerful emitter of radio and X rays. It has been proposed that we are seeing the merger of two galaxies: one elliptical, and one spiral. Very recent research I have read seems to support this.

NGC5128

Around the time when major spring constellations like Virgo and Bootes have the meridian transit, the galaxy of NGC5128 appears in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The constellation makes an appearance only its upper part at Japan, which is why the galaxy can be seen in very low southern sky and it's difficult to observe. The elliptical galaxy has an another code of radio objects "Centaurus A"; it's familiar in pictures taken by big telescopes of official observatories. The galaxy has a very clear characteristic of a thick dark lane crossing over the center of galaxy. The dark lane can be taken in pictures only with small telephoto lenses. NGC5128 is emitting the powerful radio wave from the bodies divided by dark lane, an amount of radio energy equals to about 50 million times of that of our Galaxy. Astronomers have advanced some theories of the cause of this extremely strong radio wave, for example, existence of a huge black hole at the center of the galaxy, or an influence of the collision of two galaxies.

NGC5139

The Omega Cluster, NGC5139, is the largest globular cluster in heavens. The apparent size is over half of degree. But the cluster culminates at only 7 degrees around Tokyo; it needs extremely clear sky to enjoy the splendid cluster at the Northern Hemisphere. The cluster has the magnitude of 3.7; you can detect it with normal vision under dark night. The omega cluster forms the constellation of Centaurus as a star of omega Centauri, registered as a normal star before discovered that it was a globular cluster. You can resolve individual stars in the outer region only with binoculars, and the view through small scopes should be extremely splendid.

NGC 3918

NGC 3918 is in the constellation Centaurus and is about 3,000 light-years from us. Its diameter is about 0.3 light-year. It shows a roughly spherical outer envelope but an elongated inner balloon inflated by a fast wind from the hot central star, which is starting to break out of the spherical envelope at the top and bottom of the image.

Planetary Destinations In Centaurus

HD 114386

Parent Star: HD 114386 (K3 V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 91.32 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates are Right Ascension: 13 10 39.8231 & Declination: -35 03 17.218. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 8.8. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.29 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 0.91 AU. Orbiting around HD 114386 is planet HD 114386 b the planet is believed to be a Water Cloud Jovian, Eccentric and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is White water ice clouds. The Planet is out side of Habitable Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 1.62 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 0.99 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 872 ± 34 Days and was discovered by M. Mayor, D. Naef, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, N.C. Santos, S. Udry. Discovered on 18 Jun 2002.

HD 114729

Parent Star: HD 114729 (G3 V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 114.15 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates are Right Ascension: 13 12 44.2575 & Declination: -31 52 24.056. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 6.69. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.76 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 2.38 AU. Orbiting around HD 114729 is planet 114729 b the planet is believed to be a Water Cloud Jovian, Eccentric and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is White water ice clouds. The Planet is positioned at outer edge of Habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 2.08 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 0.82 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 1131.478 Days and was discovered by Butler et al. Discovered on 13 Jun 2002.

HD 121504

Parent Star: HD 121504 (G2 V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 144.71 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates are Right Ascension: 13 57 17.2375 & Declination: -56 02 24.153. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 7.54. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.66 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 2.08 AU. Orbiting around HD 121504 is planet HD 121504 b the planet is believed to be a Clarified Jovian and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is Blue and cloudless. The Planet is not in range of Habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 0.32 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 0.89 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 64.6 Days and was discovered by M. Mayor, D. Naef, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, N.C. Santos S. Udry. Discovered in 2000.

HD 101930

Parent Star: HD 101930 (K1 V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 99.44 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 11 43 30.1115 & Declination: -58 00 24.793. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 8.21. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.36 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.12 AU. Orbiting around HD 101930 is planet HD 101930 b the planet is believed to be a Clarified Jovian and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is Blue and cloudless. The planet is out side of the habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 0.302 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 0.3 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 70.46 ± 0.18 Days and was discovered by C. Lovis, M. Mayor, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, N.C. Santos, D. Sosnowska, S. Udry, W. Benz, J.-L. Bertaux, F. Bouchy, C. Mordasini, J.-P. Sivan . Discovered in 2005.

HD 117207

Parent Star: HD 117207 (G8 VI / V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 107.63 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 13 29 21.1137 & Declination: -35 34 15.589. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 7.3. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.64 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 2.02 AU. Orbiting around HD 117207 is planet HD 117207 b the planet is believed to be a Jupiter-twin and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is White ammonia and water ice clouds, brown hydrocarbon stains. The planet is out side of the habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 3.78 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 2.06 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 2627.08 ± 63.51 Days and was discovered by Marcy et al. Discovered in 2005.

HD 117618

Parent Star: HD 117618 (G2 V) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 123.94 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 13 32 25.5556 & Declination: -47 16 16.906. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 7.18 . The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.67 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 2.08 AU. Orbiting around HD 117618 is planet HD 117618 b the planet is believed to be a Clarified Jovian, Eccentric and its existence has been confirmed. The planets appearance is Blue and cloudless. The Planet is out side of the Habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 0.28 ± 0.02 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is Mass 0.19 ± 0.04 Jupiters. The planet Orbits around the star every 52.2 ± 0.5 Days and was discovered by TINNEY C., et al. Discovered in 2004.

Proxima Centauri

Parent Star: Proxima Centauri (Alternate Designations: Rigil Kentaurus)(M5 Ve) in the constellation of Centaurus is located at a distance of 4.22 Light Years from our Solar system. Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 14 29 42.95 & Declination: -62 40 46.1. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 11.05. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.01 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 0.03 AU. Orbiting around Proxima Centauri is planet Proxima Centauri b the planet is believed to be a Unclassified Companion and its existence is uncertain at this time. The planets appearance is unknown. the planet is out side of the Habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance of 0.666 AU and the estimated mass of the planet is unknown and was discovered by Various. Discovered in 1993.

Alpha Centauri

Centaurus contains Alpha and Beta Centauri, the third and tenth brightest stars in the sky. (Note: Some lists name Betelgeuse in Orion as the tenth brightest star, but Betelgeuse is a variable star making its ranking difficult). Alpha Centauri (proper name Rigel Kentaurius) is bright only because it is close and it is the closest star to the sun at 4.3 light years away.