NGC 361

NGC 361
NGC 361 with DECam Credit: Digitized Sky Survey
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Right ascension	01h 02m 10.1s[1]
Declination	−71° 36′ 17″[1]
Distance	180000[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	12.24[2]
Apparent dimensions (V)	2.6′ × 2.6′[3]
Physical characteristics
Mass	2.15×105[2] M☉
Estimated age	8.10±1.20 Gyr[2]
Other designations	ESO 051-SC 012.[1]
Associations
Constellation	Tucana
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

NGC 361 is an open cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is located in the constellation Tucana. It was discovered on September 6, 1826, by James Dunlop. It was described by Dreyer as "very very faint, pretty large, very little extended, very gradually brighter middle."^[4] At an aperture of 31.0 arcseconds, its apparent V-band magnitude is 12.24, but at this wavelength, it has 0.40 magnitudes of interstellar extinction.^[2]

NGC 361 is about 8.1 billion years old. Its estimated mass is 2.15×10⁵ M_☉, and its total luminosity is 1.04×10⁵ L_☉, leading to a mass-to-luminosity ratio of 2.07 M_☉/L_☉.^[2] All else equal, older star clusters have higher mass-to-luminosity ratios; that is, they have lower luminosities for the same mass.^[2]

• List of NGC objects (1–1000)

• Media related to NGC 361 at Wikimedia Commons
• NGC 361 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
• SEDS

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