M88 Observation Details
M88 Daily Motion
M88 will be visible until July, 26, 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.
M88 Visibility Timetable on May 02
M88 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 19.5% illuminated | 09:20 | -28° |
| M88 rise | 16:34 | |
| Sunset | 20:25 | 44° |
| Civil sunset | 20:56 | 49° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:10 | 60° |
| M88 transit | 23:22 | 64° |
| Moon Set | 01:33 | 52° |
| Astrosession end | 04:46 | 16° |
| Civil sunrise | 06:01 | 2° |
| M88 set | 06:11 |
Track M88 Position Throughout the Night
← Fri, 2 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M88 - Spiral Galaxy
M88 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. M88 is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and is known for its well-defined spiral arms.
M88 spans about 130,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 47 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.6, making it visible with a small telescope.
M88 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 M88
| Object name | M88 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M88 coordinates | 12.5331, 14.42039 |
| Center coordinates | 12.5331, 14.42039 |
M88 Passage Through Night
Current position of M88
| Time | 00:14 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M88 elevation | 62° |
| M88 Azimuth | 152° |
Annual motion of M88
| Date | Sat, 3 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:11 |
| Twighlight end | 04:44 |
| Twighlight duration | 7h 32m |
| Rise | 16:30 |
| Set | 06:07 |
| Elevation at transit | 64° |
| Transit time | 23:18 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 12h 31m 59s", Dec: 14° 25' 13s |
| Magnitude | 10 |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices |
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 M88 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.