Messier 68
M68
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Globular Cluster
- Distance from Earth
- 33,000 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 8 mag
- Apparent size
- 12 ′
- NASA description
- Hubble captured this globular cluster's core at visible and infrared wavelengths of light.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 33,000 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left 33,000 years ago (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 8 it is fainter than the naked-eye limit (about 6) — you need binoculars or a telescope.
- It spans about 12′ of sky — about 1/3 of the full Moon's 31′.