NGC 346
NGC 346 is the brightest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy about 200,000 light-years away. A cluster of young, massive stars lights and carves the gas round it. Astronomers study it because its gas is poor in heavy elements, like the galaxies of the young Universe.
When to see it
Best evenings: August to February (southern hemisphere).
Seen from south of about 8° N. Choose your city for tonight’s times and where to look.
“Up” means at least 10° above the horizon while the Sun is at least 12° below it (dark enough for faint nebulae and galaxies). Your location, if you share it, stays on this device.
At a glance
- Distance
- 200,000 light-years [1]
- The light you see left it
- about 200,000 years ago
- Constellation
- Tucana
- Position (J2000)
- RA 0h 59m 05s, Dec −72° 11′
- Visible from
- south of about 8° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon)
- High in the evening (9 pm)
- August to February from mid-southern latitudes
- How to see it
- With a small telescope
NGC 346 tonight from four cities
| City | Tonight |
|---|---|
| New York | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| Los Angeles | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| London | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| Sydney | Up all night, best around 10:45 pm, look south.best 10:45 pm, 52° up, south |
Tonight in each city’s local time, computed November 8, 2026 with Astronomy Engine (the page refreshes every hour). For your own city, choose it above.
NGC 346: the facts
| In | the Small Magellanic Cloud [3] |
|---|---|
| Why it matters | the SMC's low share of heavy elements resembles galaxies at 'cosmic noon', 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang [3] |
| Webb found | dust in the discs feeding its protostars, down to a tenth of the Sun's mass [3] |
What did Webb find in NGC 346?
Astronomers expected little dust there: dust grains are made mostly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and the Small Magellanic Cloud has few of them. Webb found the opposite. Its near-infrared camera detected dust in the discs round young stars still forming, the ribbons of gas and dust they gather from the cloud round them, for the first time in this region.
A galaxy at the peak of cosmic star formation would have thousands of regions like NGC 346; the Small Magellanic Cloud has this one, which makes it a nearby stand-in for that era.
Step inside NGC 346 in Everdust
In Everdust’s Night Sky, look at NGC 346 and pinch to fly there on Apple Vision Pro, or tap it on iPhone, iPad and Android. What you arrive in, in the app’s own words: “NGC 346 as it is today: Webb's photograph of it, round its young cluster, given depth.”
Everdust on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Vision ProEverdust on Google Play for Android
Everdust is free on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android; Night Sky flies to NGC 346 on all of them. It is also free on Apple TV, with other worlds. I make Everdust, so weigh that; a star-map app such as Stellarium or SkySafari will find NGC 346 just as well.
Questions people ask
Can I see NGC 346 tonight? It depends on where you are. It can be seen from south of about 8° N, and it is best in the evening sky August to February from mid-southern latitudes. Choose your city on this page for tonight's times and where to look. With a small telescope: A small telescope from the Southern Hemisphere shows it as a small hazy patch with stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Where is NGC 346 in the sky? In the constellation Tucana, at right ascension 0h 59m 05s and declination −72° 11′ (J2000). It can be seen from south of about 8° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon).
How far away is NGC 346? About 200,000 light-years, the distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud it belongs to (ESO's figure for the SMC).
Can you see NGC 346 from the Northern Hemisphere? No. Like the rest of the Small Magellanic Cloud, it's too far south in the sky for anyone north of the tropics.
Sources
- Distance: “the SMC lies about 200 000 light-years away, just a twelfth of the distance to the more famous Andromeda Galaxy” (eso.org, the figure Everdust uses)
- ESA/Webb weic2301a: Webb Inspects NGC 346 (NIRCam Image)
- ESA/Webb weic2301: Webb uncovers star formation in cluster's dusty ribbons (11 January 2023)
Distance and position: the deep-sky catalog in Everdust’s Night Sky (read November 1, 2026), each figure quoted from the source above. Constellation, seasons and tonight are computed with Astronomy Engine (Don Cross, MIT license). More: Wikipedia.
