Centaurus, the Centaur, isone o the most striking constellations in the southern sky.The lovel Milky Wayflows through this large constellation whosecelestial wonders also include the closest star to the sun Alpha Centauri,the largest globular star cluster in our galaxy Omega Centauri,and the closest active galaxy Centaurus A.Embraced by tightly wound spiral arms of bright blue star clusters,this gorgeous galaxy -cataloged as ESO 269-57 - also falls withi Centaurus' borders.Seen behind a veil of foreground stars which lie within our owngalaxy, this face-o spiral galaxy is about 150 millionlight-years away and 200,000 light-years across.The brighter foreground stars are marked b diffraction spikes causedby the telescope and yellow vertical stripes due to saturated digital camera pixels in the abov Very Large Telescope image from the European Southern Observatory.Tantalizing wisps of more distant, faint galaxies arevisible in the background.
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