Pleiades (M45) Observation Details
M45 Daily Motion
M45 will reach transit at 17:24. By the time twilight starts at 22:21 it will be at an elevation of 26° degrees and will set at 00:43, before twilight ends.M45 will be visible until April, 7, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M45 Visibility Timetable on January 28
M45 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 68.4% illuminated | 09:59 | -1° |
| Sunset | 15:25 | 62° |
| Civil sunset | 15:54 | 67° |
| Astrosession begin | 16:57 | 76° |
| M45 transit | 17:24 | 77° |
| M45 set | 00:43 | |
| Moon Set | 01:32 | -8° |
| Astrosession end | 03:44 | -24° |
| M45 rise | 10:00 |
Track M45 Position Throughout the Night
← Wed, 28 January 2026 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is Pleiades right now?
Pleiades (M45) is located in the constellation Taurus, at right ascension 03h 45m 49s" and declination 24° 22' 04s. At the current time, it is above the horizon at an altitude of 26 degrees toward the east-northeast from your location, with an apparent magnitude of .M45 - Pleiades
The Pleiades (M45), also known as the Seven Sisters, is an open cluster located in the constellation Taurus. It has been known since antiquity and was later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1771. M45 is one of the nearest open clusters to Earth and contains a bright population of stars.
M45 spans about 17.5 light-years across and contains over 1,000 stars. The cluster is approximately 444 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 1.6, making it visible to the naked eye under most skies.
M45 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 M45
| Object name | M45 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M45 coordinates | 3.76378, 24.36786 |
| Center coordinates | 3.76378, 24.36786 |
M45 Passage Through Night
Current position of M45
| Time | 22:21 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M45 elevation | 26° |
| M45 Azimuth | 78° |
Annual motion of M45
| Date | Thu, 29 January 2026 |
| Twighlight start | 16:53 |
| Twighlight end | 03:37 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 44m |
| Rise | 10:00 |
| Set | 00:39 |
| Elevation at transit | 77° |
| Transit time | 17:20 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 03h 45m 49s", Dec: 24° 22' 04s |
| Magnitude | - |
| Constellation | Taurus |
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 M45 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.
Astrometric & Physical Parameters of M45
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 3.76378° |
| Declination | 24.36786° |
| Magnitude | |
| Constellation | Taurus |
| Elevation | 26.3° |
| Azimuth | 78.4° |
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.