M48
open star cluster · in Hydra
2,437 light-years from Earth
A big, bright cluster that Messier recorded in 1771 with a wrong position, about four degrees too far north, so for more than 160 years it was counted as lost. It was matched to NGC 2548 in 1934 and again in 1959.
- 2,440 light-years (Gaia) · its stars spread over about 60 light-years
- about 400 to 450 million years old · 489 of its stars as Gaia measured them
- kind
- nebula · star cluster
- catalogue
- M48 · NGC 2548
- size
- 60 light-years across