What is $this->?

OOP is giving me a headache. I'm working on vbspace, and I'm just messing around with the space class...is this correct for the most part? It's not the full class just one function

PHP Code:


<?php

class space //myspace class: the backbone of the hack.
{
   var $type;
   var $cache;

   public function get_soptions()
   {
       $options = $db->query_read("SELECT * from " . TABLE_PREFIX . " space_options");
       
       while ($soptions = $db->fetch_array($options))
       {
          $this->type = $soptions[type];
          $this->cache = $soptions[cache];
       }
    }
}

?>

If not, can you explain what $this-> is? I'm seeing it everywhere, and I think I have it right. It's just a pseudo instance of a the current class. Am I right?