The Caldwell Objects

of gaze, and excellent action of the telescope, [it]
was as well seen as so low and so awfully remote
an object could be expected to be." William
Herschel found the cluster in March 1785 and
considered it an important discovery because, in
his view, it was "one of the gradations from the
palpable congeries of stars . . . towards the distant
nebulae."
1 2
NGC 1360
Type: Planetary Nebula
Con: Fornax
RA: 3 h 33.2 m
Dec: -25° 52'
Mag: 9.4
Diam: 6.5'
Dist: 1,100 light-years
Concealed among the dim suns of Fornax, mixed
within the wide fanfare of galaxies that populate
the region, lies one of the sky's brightest
planetary nebulae, one which richly rewards
small-telescope users: NGC 1360. This oftenoverlooked
gem has an immediate "wow, what is
that?" appeal, especially when stumbled upon at
the eyepiece. Robert Burnham Jr. refers to NGC
1360 as a "peculiar nebula... usually classified as
a planetary." In 1968 Lubos Kohoutek called it an
"uncommon planetary." And Mario Perinotto,
who studied the central star's spectrum in the
early 1980s, placed it in the Wolf-Rayet category
of planetary nebulae, meaning the central star
appears to be in a state of flux and is violently
ejecting matter into the surrounding shell. Steven
J. Hynes lists NGC 1360 in his work Planetary
Nebulae and classifies it as a Type III (a planetary
with an irregular disk).
Not much is heard about NGC 1360's visual
appearance from amateurs living at midnorth-
438
ern latitudes, which is surprising. Then again, as
seen from the north, Fornax, the Furnace, is not
among the most glamorous constellations, as its
110 4th- to 7th-magnitude stars all lie near the
southern horizon in mid-December. Still, NGC
1360 is at nearly the same declination as Antares
and the globular cluster M4.
You will find this "peculiar planetary" about
5½° northeast of magnitude-3.8 Alpha (α)
Fornacis, less than 15' southeast of a mag-nitude-
6.4 star. (Note that the second edition of Sky Atlas
2000.0 curiously fails to show NGC 1360.) NGC
1360 is not only bright as plane-taries go, it's
huge; while many planetaries measure mere
arcseconds across, NGC 1360 spans a respectable
6½ arcminutes, making it about five times larger
than M57, the Ring Nebula, on the plane of the
sky. Its central star also burns at an unusually
bright 11th magnitude, making it a cinch to find
in even the smallest of backyard instruments.
Christian Luginbuhl and Brian Skiff note that the
nebula is a large, smooth, elongated glow with
hints of patchi-ness visible in larger instruments.
Through the Genesis NGC 1360 is a simple yet
spectacular sight — a conspicuous central star
surrounded by a fantastic oval shell that's evident
at 23x. At 72x the shell appears delicately
mottled, like slightly curdled milk, or an egg
made of white marble. The nebula's eastern half
is the most noticeably mottled.
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects