Sh2-261 (Sharpless 261) also known as Lower’s Nebula has only been discovered in 1939. The Lowers (father and son) were amateur astronomers and found this nebula on one of their photgraphic plates taken in 1939.

It is a relatively faint region emitting doubly ionized hydrogen, the nebula has an apparent diameter of about 50 arcminutes. There is no accurate measurement as to the distance of this nebula, although best estimation is about 3.300 light years.