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Early June 11 p.m.
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Binocular Highlight by Mathew Wedel
T
his month’s target is nearby galaxy NGC 5128,
also known as Centaurus A, in the heart of
the celestial centaur. The fi rst recorded observa-
tion of the galaxy was by Scottish astronomer
James Dunlop, who discovered it in 1826 from his
observatory in New South Wales, Australia. In 1949,
NGC 5128 was determined to be the host of the
“Centaurus A” radio source. That discovery was
made by a team led by John Gatenby Bolton, who,
like James Dunlop a century earlier, was British-born
but living and working in Australia.
To observe NGC 5128 yourself, you too will need
to go south — minimally in the sky, and possibly also
geographically. At declination –43°, NGC 5128 is
pretty darned far south, and that makes it a challeng-
ing object for observers at mid-northern latitudes.
If you’ve poked around in that part of the sky, it was
probably to have a look at Omega Centauri (NGC
5139), which lies another 4° south of NGC 5128.
Omega Centauri has been observed from as far
north as southern Canada, but at magnitude 3.9 it’s
many times brighter than 7th-magnitude NGC 5128.
I’ve observed NGC 5128 with 50-mm binoculars
from Texas and southern California, but I’ve never
tried from farther north. I assume there’s a tipping
point, at which the thickening atmosphere near the
horizon dims NGC 5128 to invisibility even though it’s
still above the horizon. But I don’t know where that
point might lie. I encourage you to try for it, wherever
you might be, and if you catch the galaxy in binocu-
lars from farther north than the 34th parallel, I’d be
grateful for a report ([email protected]).
Good hunting!
¢MATT WEDEL loses almost as much sleep thinking
about objects just below the southern horizon as he
does observing the ones above it.
Elusive Giant
skyandtelescope.com • JUNE 2019 43