NGC 5138

 OPEN CLUSTER IN CENTAURUS 

(Image centered at: ra 13 h:27 m / dec - 49º 01')

June  - 2024, Home Backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

APPARENT DIAMETER: 8 arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 7.6

DISTANCE: 6500 light years or 1986 pc (approximately)

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: 6" ORION OPTICS UK (Ultra Grade Optics) w/Sky Watcher Coma Corrector (0.9x) working at at f4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 MONO

MOUNT: VIXEN GDPX, OAG with Starlight Xpress Lodestar

FILTERS: BAADER LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: urban skies - Bortle 8

EXPOSURES: LRGB (60,45,45,45)

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

NGC 5138 is located almost 5 degrees west from magnitude 0.6 Hadar (aka Beta Centauri). The Open Cluster is right in the plane of our Milky Way and therefore the image presents a dense star background. NGC 5138 is very loose and its components are not easy to discern. As a rule of thumb we can state that old small red stars are from de center of our Milky Way, while the blue young and hotter stars should be mainly from the open cluster...

Unfortunately there are not many color images in the web of NGC 5138 and also not much information about it.

We imaged this object from my home backyard in a light polluted neighborhood night sky. We had a clear night after several weeks of clouds. The Moon was in 94.5% phase, so I decided to have a go on this nice bright target.