Mairan's Nebula (M43) Observation Details
M43 Daily Motion
M43 will not be observable tonight. It will reach its transit at 45° by 13:58 and set at 19:39. Throughout the night, from 00:08 to 04:49, it will be below the horizon. M43 will rise again after sunrise, at 08:12.M43 will become visible in August, 27. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from August, 27, M43 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M43 Visibility Timetable on June 09
M43 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M43 transit | 13:58 | 45° |
| Moon Rise, 94.7% illuminated | 18:56 | 8° |
| M43 set | 19:39 | |
| Astrosession begin | 23:00 | -38° |
| Astrosession end | 04:01 | -45° |
| Moon Set | 04:26 | -41° |
| M43 rise | 08:12 |
Track M43 Position Throughout the Night
← Mon, 9 June 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M43 - De Mairan's Nebula
M43, also known as De Mairan's Nebula, is a diffuse nebula located in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan before 1731 and later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1769. M43 is part of the Orion Nebula (M42) complex.
M43 spans about 4 light-years across and contains a bright, young star that illuminates the surrounding gas and dust. The nebula is approximately 1,344 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.0, making it visible with a small telescope.
M43 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 M43
| Object name | M43 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M43 coordinates | 5.59205, -5.26747 |
| Center coordinates | 5.59205, -5.26747 |
M43 Passage Through Night
Current position of M43
| Time | 00:08 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M43 elevation | -48° |
| M43 Azimuth | 42° |
Annual motion of M43
| Date | Tue, 10 June 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 23:01 |
| Twighlight end | 03:59 |
| Twighlight duration | 5h 59m |
| Rise | 08:12 |
| Set | 19:35 |
| Elevation at transit | 45° |
| Transit time | 13:54 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 05h 35m 31s", Dec: -5° 16' 02s |
| Magnitude | 9 |
| Constellation | Orion |
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 M43 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.