Star cluster
NGC 6268
Open star cluster · 447 million 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 | Scorpius |
| Distance | 1,105 pc (3.6 thousand ly) |
| Age | 447 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 237 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.42 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 02m 07.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −39° 42′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 50° N. South of latitude 50° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1579 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 64 million years.