Type

Intermediate mass

Location

In the constellation Centaurus

Finder Chart

Distance

17,000 light-years

Mass

40,000 times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter 150,000 miles (240,000 km), about two-thirds of the distance from Earth to the Moon

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

1

Hubble peered deep into Omega Centauri to snap a picture of about 50,000 stars near the cluster's center. [NASA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)]

This document was last modified: August 13, 2008.