C88

An open cluster that lies so close to the northern border of Circinus that some of its northern stars fall within the neighboring constellation of Lupus. Just over a degree to the north, and fully within Lupus, lies another open cluster, NGC 5822. Seen from Earth, the two clusters thus form a close pair in the sky against the background of the Milky Way, but they are not physically related, as C88 lies several hundred light years beyond NGC 5822. C88 contains a little over one hundred stars spread across a volume some 12 light years from side to side, at a distance of some 3,900 light years from the Solar System.