Hover your mouse over each blue dot for the name of the object, or click on the dot for a detail page. This map was created using the all-sky hydrogen-alpha map produced by Douglas Finkbeiner from data collected by the WHAM, VTSS and SHASSA hydrogen-alpha surveys.
The brightest part of the Centaurus region is the diffuse nebula (including RCW 83 and RCW 85) surrounding the OB association Centaurus OB1, which contains at its core the star cluster Stock 16 associated with RCW 75. There is some evidence (by no means conclusive) that much of the rest of this region is part of a spur of the Carina Arc (the Centaurus Spur) that branches off towards the inner galaxy.