About NGC 2361
NGC 2361 is a trash nebula. It sits in the constellation CMa.
A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Trash nebula 14 EP
NGC 2361
RA 109.5992° · Dec -13.2096° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesTrash 15 pts → Common
- Nebula +8
- Diffuse nebula +6
Total score 14
1 more point to reach Common.
Badges
- Nebula · +8
- Diffuse nebula · +6
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, thinner than the best vacuum ever made in a laboratory yet spanning light-years.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Canis Major.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Nebular colours are chemistry made visible — red for hydrogen, teal for oxygen, blue where starlight is merely scattered.
How we came to know it
- The New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- CMa
- dso type
- Neb
- name
- NGC 2361
How to see it
Look for NGC 2361 in the constellation CMa.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 2361 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why NGC 2361 is a trash nebula
NGC 2361 scores 14 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Nebula and Diffuse nebula — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.