No spring or summer trip to the Big Bend is complete without seeing or imaging Omega Centauri. Omega Centauri is visible low on the southern horizon. It was just visible between some electric wires when I got around to it on this trip, so this image was made from only 6.5 minutes of data, thirteen 30 second exposures. The light of 10 million stars shines brightly at a distanc of 17,000 light years. Because of its atypical population of stars, Omega Centauri is believed to be the reminant of a dwarf galaxy that was incorporated into the Milky Way. There is evidence of a black hole at its center. Captured starting 2022-04-26 06:42 UT with a WO RedCat 250/51 mm, ZWO ASI533 MC, ASIAIR Plus, on a SW AZ-EQ5 mount.

Processed with PixInsight and Topaz DeNoise AI with final crop and exposure adjustments in Photoshop.