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Other deep sky objects in Hydra
All Constellations »  Hydra »  Deep Sky Objects » 

Messier 68 - Globular Cluster in Hydra

Above the horizon.  Rise: 18:36 | Tran: 21:57 | Set: 1:22
Alt: 11.28°   Az: 187.73°   Direction: South

Messier 68 is a Globular Cluster in the Hydra constellation. Messier 68 is situated south of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the southern hemisphere. Given its visual magnitude of 7.96, Messier 68 is visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.

The image below is a photograph of Messier 68 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5000x0.5000 degrees (30.00x30.00 arcmins).

Image of Messier 68 - Globular Cluster in Hydra star
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DSS2 image of Messier 68 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (6.6 arcmin) and minor (6.6 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

12h 40m 49s
-26° 52’ 55”
00h 34m 00s
13h 14m 49s

J2000

12h 39m 28s
-26° 44’ 35”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 68 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

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Finder chart for Messier 68 - Globular Cluster in Hydra.

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Finder chart for Messier 68 - Globular Cluster in Hydra.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 68 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

10.26
7.96

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent Size

The following table reports Messier 68 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 68 is a visual representation of it.
6.6 arcmin
6.6 arcmin

Rise and Set Times

Location: Greenwich, UK
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's Messier 68 - Globular Cluster in Hydra rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 116.9°
Max altitude: 11.6°
Azimuth: 243.1°