NGC 4361 (Corvus)
Fig. 1 - An extremely high-excitation, low-density, and very inhomogeneous nebula: The planetary nebula NGC 4361 in Corvus, photographed with a 16-inch f/4.5 Dob on an equatorial platform.
| Object name: | Constellation: | Coordinates: | Apparent size: | Visual brightness: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NGC 4361 | Corvus | 12h25m / -18°47' | 1.3' x 1.3' | 10.9 mag |
The planetary nebula NGC 4361 ("Lawn Sprinkler Nebula", "Garden Sprinkler Nebula") in the constellation Corvus. The nebula is nicknamed the Lawn Sprinkler Nebula due to the two opposing plumes extending from its outer shell. NGC 4361's central star, which has the Henry Draper Catalogue designation HD 107969, is an extremely hot Wolf-Rayet type star. Its temperature is 126,000 K. It is nearly 18,000 times brighter than the Sun, but is only 6.1% its size.
NGC 4361 is approximately 3,379 light-years from Earth and was discovered by German British astronomer William Herschel in 1785 (source: Wikipedia).
Exposure time: 3h 10min (63x approx. 3min) at ISO 800, taken on April 13, 2018 and on April 22 / 23, 2020. Processing with Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop. No calibration frames were taken. Unfortunately, the 3 hour stack shows only a tiny bit more than a one hour stack - the outer gaseous parts of NGC 4361 are rather faint.
Equipment: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified camera, TeleVue Universal Paracorr coma corrector, 16" f/4.5 "Ninja" dobsonian telescope riding on a dual-axis Tom Osypowski equatorial platform, Lacerta MGEN autoguider, Lacerta off axis system.
Field of view comparison: image of the moon with the same setup.
Fig. 2 - Search chart for NGC 4361. Copyright 2025 'The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project', www.siaris.net.