M79 Observation Details
M79 Daily Motion
M79 will not be observable tonight. It will reach its transit at 26° by 15:44 and set at 20:14. Throughout the night, from 00:49 to 05:14, it will be below the horizon. M79 will rise again after sunrise, at 11:11.M79 will be visible until January, 1, 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.
M79 Visibility Timetable on May 10
M79 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M79 transit | 15:44 | 26° |
| Moon Rise, 93.2% illuminated | 17:59 | 18° |
| M79 set | 20:14 | |
| Astrosession begin | 22:22 | -23° |
| Astrosession end | 04:33 | -71° |
| Moon Set | 05:05 | -67° |
| M79 rise | 11:11 |
Track M79 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 10 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M79 - Globular Cluster
M79 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Lepus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. The cluster contains a rich population of old stars.
M79 spans about 118 light-years across and contains around 150,000 stars. The cluster is approximately 41,000 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.7, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M79 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 M79
| Object name | M79 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M79 coordinates | 5.40294, -24.52422 |
| Center coordinates | 5.40294, -24.52422 |
M79 Passage Through Night
Current position of M79
| Time | 00:49 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M79 elevation | -51° |
| M79 Azimuth | 80° |
Annual motion of M79
| Date | Sun, 11 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:23 |
| Twighlight end | 04:31 |
| Twighlight duration | 6h 7m |
| Rise | 11:11 |
| Set | 20:10 |
| Elevation at transit | 26° |
| Transit time | 15:40 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 05h 24m 10s", Dec: -24° 31' 27s |
| Magnitude | 8 |
| Constellation | Lepus |
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 M79 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.