How to find Centaurus
Home of our nearest stellar neighbour and the magnificent globular cluster Omega Centauri.
Alpha Centauri — the closest star system to the Sun.
Centaurus is a large, bright southern constellation wrapped around the Southern Cross. It contains Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own, just over four light-years away.
Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri (Hadar) are the two brilliant 'Pointer' stars that guide observers to the Southern Cross.
Our nearest neighbour and a giant cluster
Alpha Centauri looks like a single bright star but is a triple system; its faint member Proxima Centauri is the very closest star to the Sun. Centaurus also hosts Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky — a naked-eye fuzzy ball that explodes into thousands of stars in a telescope.
How to find it
- From southern latitudes, find the two bright Pointer stars beside the Southern Cross — those are Alpha and Beta Centauri
- Omega Centauri lies to the north of the Cross as a hazy 'star'
- Best high in the south on autumn evenings (southern hemisphere)
Deep-sky highlights
- Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) — the sky's grandest globular cluster
- Centaurus A (NGC 5128) — a bright peculiar galaxy with a dark dust lane
Stella shows exactly when Centaurus is highest from your location tonight — and whether the sky is worth it.
Coming soon —Get early access