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In Evidence

New Comet C/2025 J1 (Borisov) Discovered in May 2025
Detailed information about the discovery of Comet C/2025 J1 (Borisov) and pointers to useful resources to track and observe it. Read more...

Other deep sky objects in Tucana
All Constellations »  Tucana »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 261 - Nebula in Tucana

Below the horizon.  Never rises today
Alt: -36.25°   Az: 169.28°   Direction: South

NGC 261 is a Nebula in the Tucana constellation. NGC 261 is situated south of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the southern hemisphere. Given its B magnitude of 13, NGC 261 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 261 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5000x0.5000 degrees (30.00x30.00 arcmins).

Image of NGC 261 - Nebula in Tucana star
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DSS2 image of NGC 261 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (1.3 arcmin) and minor (1.1 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

00h 47m 23s
-72° 57’ 54”
21h 56m 45s
22h 44m 08s

J2000

00h 46m 27s
-73° 06’ 12”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 261 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

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Finder chart for NGC 261 - Nebula in Tucana.

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Finder chart for NGC 261 - Nebula in Tucana.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 261 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

13

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent Size

The following table reports NGC 261 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 261 is a visual representation of it.
1.3 arcmin
1.1 arcmin
110°

Rise and Set Times

Location: Greenwich, UK
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

NGC 261 - Nebula in Tucana is currently not visible from Greenwich, UK