M68

globular cluster · in Hydra

34,000 light-years from Earth

Unlike most globulars, it lies in the half of the sky away from the Galactic centre. Its orbit suggests it came from a small galaxy the Milky Way swallowed, whose stars now form the Helmi streams.

• 34,000 light-years · about 110 light-years across
• orbit reaches 96,000 light-years from the centre

kind

nebula · star cluster

catalogue

M68 · NGC 4590

size

110 light-years across