Star cluster
NGC 3680
Open star cluster · 1.6 billion years
An open cluster of stars born together from the same gas cloud in the Milky Way’s disc; the Galaxy’s tidal forces will disperse it within a few hundred million years. Position, distance, age and member count come from the MWSC catalogue; the total brightness is roughly estimated from the member count.
| Type | Star cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Distance | 946 pc (3.1 thousand ly) |
| Age | 1.6 billion years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 100 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.06 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | -0.17 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 25m 37.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −43° 14′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 47° N. South of latitude 47° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1060 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 55 million years.