Omega Centauri / February 2021 from The Streichfett Sessions

NASA/JPL-Caltech/NOAO/AURA/NSF, NASA/JPL-Caltech/M.Boyer (University of Minnesota)

Streichfett Sessions Installment 4 February 2021

In 150 AD, Greco-Roman writer and astronomer Ptolemy catalogued this object in his Almagest as a star on the horse's back, "Quae est in principio scapulae". Omega Centauri (ω Cen, NGC 5139, or Caldwell 80) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus that was first identified as a non-stellar object by Edmond Halley in 1677. Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years (5,240 pc), it is the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars, and a total mass equivalent to 4 million solar mass making it the most massive known globular cluster in the Milky Way. At a distance of about 17,090 light-years (5,240 pc) from Earth, Omega Centauri is one of the few globular clusters visible to the naked eye—and appears almost as large as the full moon when seen from a dark, rural area. It is the brightest, largest and, at 4 million solar mass the most massive known globular cluster associated with the Milky Way. Of all the globular clusters in the Local Group of galaxies, only Mayall II in the Andromeda Galaxy is brighter and more massive. Orbiting through the Milky Way, Omega Centauri contains several million Population II stars and is about 12 billion years old. -wikipedia

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My son often corrects me on the proper names for all the gods/goddesses in the Greek & Roman myths-but for the purpose of this, it’s the story the counts. Centaurus is a constellation associated with Chiron. In Greek mythology Chiron was half man and half horse; a centaur. His father, the god Cronos, disguised himself as a horse to evade being caught by his wife and seduced a sea nymph. Chiron was born not only immortal because of his father’s immortality as a god, but also a hybrid of horse and man. Centaurs were known as vicious, violent, delinquent, boorish and dangerous beings, but Chiron took another path. After all he was descended from a god was he not? He was a gentle, intelligent, and mentor to many future heroes on Mount Pelion where he lived. His wisdom of medicine and the more refined civilized arts was unsurpassed. Unfortunately, an arrow that was dipped in poison from which there was no cure struck Chiron and he suffered much because he was immortal; he could not die. It is the way in which he became part of the stars that speaks to his great sacrifice, nobility, and the ultimate lesson for humanity about the deepest wounds and our ability to heal or not heal. Collectively, personally, generationally where must we willingly sacrifice to find our place amongst the stars?

“As the son of Cronus he was immortal, so it was left to Heracles to arrange a bargain with Zeus to exchange Chiron's immortality for the life of Prometheus, who had been chained to a rock and left to die for his transgressions. Ironically, Chiron, the master of the healing arts, could not heal himself and willingly gave up his immortality. For this reason, his half-brother Zeus took pity of him and thus placed him among the stars in the sky to be honored.”-wikipedia.

“And while the old man fingered the shafts clotted with poison, one of the arrows fell out of the quiver and stuck in his left foot. Chiron groaned and drew the steel from his body. Chiron then tries to use herbs to heal himself, but fails. After nine days with a weeping Achilles looking on, Chiron passes into the stars becoming a constellation.” - Ovid, Fasti

Piano, Streichfett Alchymie

Mixed & Mastered Laila Kalantari

Recorded August 2020

Enjoy, Omega Centauri