NGC 362

Located at a distance of about 29,300 ly from Earth in the direction of Tucana a little to the north of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), to which it is entirely unrelated. Outlying stars and clusters of the SMC can be seen on the left side of the image. It is believed to be relatively young (as globular clusters go) in view of its higher metallicity compared with other similar objects. Studies of its densely-packed central region have revealed an overabundance of binary stars perhaps suggestive of core collapse in the past.

Classified as III (strong inner core of stars) on the Shapley-Sawyer globular cluster concentration scale (1927).