History

Probably the first one who mentioned Omega Centauri was Greek astronomer Ptolemy. He included it as a star in the Almagest, appeared around 150 AD. Johann Bayer catalogued it as a 4^th magnitude star (ω) in the early 17^th century. In 1676-77 Edmond Halley made the first observation with a telescope from the island of St. Helena. While cataloguing southern stars he included it in a short list of a half-dozen «luminous spots or patches» that he found. Using a half-inch telescope and 8x magnification Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille observed it from Cape of Good Hope and reported: «Naked eye, a 3^rd mag star in a fog. Telescope, like a big diffuse comet.» ^[364]

On 7 May 1826 James Dunlop first resolved the cluster with his 9-inch speculum reflector at Parramatta, New South Wales in Australia. Based on 8 observation he described it as «a beautiful large bright round nebula, about 10' or 12' diameter, easily resolvable to the very centre; it is a beautiful globe of stars very gradually and moderately compressed to the centre; the stars are rather scattered preceding and following, and the greatest condensation is rather north of the centre: the stars are of slightly mixed mags, of a white colour. This is the largest bright nebula in the southern hemisphere.» ^[50]