M78 Observation Details
M78 Daily Motion
M78 will not be observable tonight. It will reach its transit at 50° by 16:07 and set at 22:06. Throughout the night, from 23:49 to 05:14, it will be below the horizon. M78 will rise again after sunrise, at 10:04.M78 will become visible in August, 24. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from August, 24, M78 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M78 Visibility Timetable on May 10
M78 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M78 transit | 16:07 | 50° |
| Moon Rise, 93.2% illuminated | 17:59 | 43° |
| Sunset | 20:33 | 18° |
| Civil sunset | 21:05 | 12° |
| M78 set | 22:06 | |
| Astrosession begin | 22:22 | -3° |
| Astrosession end | 04:33 | -49° |
| Moon Set | 05:05 | -48° |
| M78 rise | 10:04 |
Track M78 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 10 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M78 - Reflection Nebula
M78 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M78 is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is one of the brightest reflection nebulae in the sky.
M78 spans about 5 light-years across and contains several young stars that illuminate the surrounding dust. The nebula is approximately 1,600 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.3, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M78 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 M78
| Object name | M78 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M78 coordinates | 5.77939, 0.07931 |
| Center coordinates | 5.77939, 0.07931 |
M78 Passage Through Night
Current position of M78
| Time | 23:49 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M78 elevation | -20° |
| M78 Azimuth | 73° |
Annual motion of M78
| Date | Sun, 11 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:23 |
| Twighlight end | 04:31 |
| Twighlight duration | 6h 7m |
| Rise | 10:04 |
| Set | 22:02 |
| Elevation at transit | 50° |
| Transit time | 16:03 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 05h 46m 45s", Dec: 00° 04' 45s |
| Magnitude | 8 |
| 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 M78 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.