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NGC 5138 — Open Cluster in Centaurus

Open Cluster Good (51/100)
Magnitude 7.6m OpenCluster Centaurus (Cen) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 7.6
Angular Size 4.2′
Cl, Ri, lC, st 11

Position & Identifiers

RA 13h 27m 15.2s
Dec -59° 02' 27.2"
Constellation Centaurus (Cen)
Catalog NGC 5138

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Easy Easy Easy
150mm Newt. Easy Easy Easy
C8 203mm Easy Easy Easy
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Medium on Seestar S50

3Visibility

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Best season Mar – May (peak: Apr)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 5138 · 4.2′ diameter

5 Best Magnification

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6 Classification Decoder

Nearby in the Sky

Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.

Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.

NGC 5168
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.1 2.0° Centaurus
IC 4291
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.70 3.3° Centaurus
NGC 4852
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.0 3.5° Centaurus
S Cru
Medium
Pulsating variable, period 4.7d
Variable Star mag 6.58 4.3° Crux
NGC 5316
Easy
Rich open cluster
Open Cluster mag 6.0 4.3° Centaurus
Coalsack Nebula
Easy
Dark nebula — shows as a void against the Milky Way
Dark Nebula mag 12.0 6.2° Crux
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