M38 Observation Details
M38 Daily Motion
M38 will become visible in July, 29. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from July, 29, M38 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M38 Visibility Timetable on May 09
M38 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M38 transit | 15:53 | 86° |
| Moon Rise, 87.4% illuminated | 17:00 | 76° |
| Sunset | 20:32 | 36° |
| Civil sunset | 21:04 | 30° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:21 | 17° |
| M38 set | 00:20 | |
| Astrosession end | 04:35 | -14° |
| Moon Set | 04:45 | -13° |
| M38 rise | 07:21 |
Track M38 Position Throughout the Night
← Fri, 9 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M38 - Open Cluster
M38 is an open cluster located in the constellation Auriga. It was discovered by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654 and independently by Charles Messier in 1764. The cluster contains a mix of young, hot stars and older stars.
M38 spans about 25 light-years across and contains around 100 stars. The cluster is approximately 4,200 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.4, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M38 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M38
| Object name | M38 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M38 coordinates | 5.47847, 35.85492 |
| Center coordinates | 5.47847, 35.85492 |
M38 Passage Through Night
Current position of M38
| Time | 04:29 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M38 elevation | -14° |
| M38 Azimuth | -8° |
Annual motion of M38
| Date | Sat, 10 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:18 |
| Twighlight end | 04:28 |
| Twighlight duration | 6h 10m |
| Rise | 07:17 |
| Set | 00:13 |
| Elevation at transit | 86° |
| Transit time | 15:45 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 05h 28m 42s", Dec: 35° 51' 17s |
| Magnitude | 6 |
| Constellation | Auriga |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M38 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.