Northern Centaurus (original) (raw)

The major portion of Centaurus (the Centaur) sprawls across the picture. Muhlifein, Gamma Centauri, lies at far right center, while Menkent (Theta Centauri) is the bright star toward the upper left and Iota is the bright one at the extreme upper edge near center. Eta lies at center left. This northern part of Centaurus is tied to the southern portion through Epsilon Centauri, the bright star toward lower right. The bright fuzzy image to the right of center is the great globular star cluster Omega Centauri. Zeta Cen is just down and to the left of it. Mu and Nu are the pair above center, Nu on top. To the left of Mu, find Phi then Chi. Lupus is down toward the lower left corner, the bright star there Kakkab, Alpha Lupi. The bright pair toward the lower left edge consists of Kappa Cen (above) and Beta Lupi. Delta Cen, off the picture to the right, can be seen on the picture of northern Centaurus shifted to the west.