Messier 68

This photo was obtained with VLT KUEYEN on April 4, 1999. It is reproduced from an excellent 60-second R(ed)-band exposure of the innermost region of a globular cluster, Messier 68 (NGC 4590), in the southern constellation Hydra (The Water-Snake). The distance to this 8-mag cluster is about 35,000 light years, and the diameter is about 140 light-years. The excellent image quality is 0.38 arcsec, demonstrating a good optical and mechanical state of the telescope, already at this early stage of the commissioning phase. The field measures about 90 x 90 arcsec 2. The original scale is 0.0455 pix/arcsec and there are 2048x2048 pixels in one frame. North is up and East is left.