We present the results of optical spectroscopy and imaging with the SAO 6 m telescope for the dwarf galaxy DDO 68 ( UGC 5340=VV 542 ) , falling into the region of very low density of luminous ( L > L _ { * } ) galaxies ( Lynx-Cancer void ) .
Its deep images in V,R bands and in the narrow H \alpha -filter show that this galaxy has the very irregular morphology , with a long curved tail on the South and a ring-like structure at the Northern edge .
The latter consists of 5 separate regions , in three of which we could measure O/H by the classical T _ { e } method .
Their weighted mean oxygen abundance corresponds to 12+ \log ( O/H ) =7.21 \pm 0.03 , coincident within uncertainties with those for I Zw 18 .
The ( V - R ) colour of DDO 68 is rather blue all over the galaxy , indicating the youth of its stellar populations .
Comparing the ( V - R ) ^ { 0 } colour of the underlying exponential disk of 0 \aas@@fstack { m } 12 \pm 0.04 with the PEGASE.2 models for the evolving stellar clusters , we give the first estimate of the ages of the oldest stellar population , which needs confirmation by the other colours and the photometry of resolved stars .
These ages are in the range of 200–900 Myr for continuous star formation law , and \sim 100–115 Myr for the instantaneous starburst .
We discuss the properties and the possible youth of this nearby object ( \sim 2.3 times closer than the famous young galaxy I Zw 18 ) in the context of its atypical environment .