Coma Pinwheel (M99) Observation Details
M99 Daily Motion
M99 will rise before twilight begins, at 16:44, and will reach 52° elevation by the time twilight commences at 21:24. It will reach its transit at 64° by 23:33 and gradually fade away as the night ends at 05:34, maintaining an elevation of around 9°.M99 will be visible until July, 21, 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.
M99 Visibility Timetable on April 26
M99 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 8.7% illuminated | 05:18 | 13° |
| M99 rise | 16:44 | |
| Moon Set | 18:02 | 15° |
| Sunset | 20:19 | 41° |
| Civil sunset | 20:49 | 46° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:02 | 58° |
| M99 transit | 23:33 | 64° |
| Astrosession end | 04:57 | 16° |
| Civil sunrise | 06:09 | 2° |
| M99 set | 06:21 |
Track M99 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 26 April 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M99 - Pinwheel Galaxy
The Pinwheel Galaxy (M99) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M99 is known for its well-defined spiral arms and high surface brightness.
M99 spans about 85,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 50 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.9, making it visible with a small telescope.
M99 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 M99
| Object name | M99 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M99 coordinates | 12.31378, 14.4165 |
| Center coordinates | 12.31378, 14.4165 |
M99 Passage Through Night
Current position of M99
| Time | 18:35 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M99 elevation | 21° |
| M99 Azimuth | -88° |
Annual motion of M99
| Date | Sat, 26 April 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 21:57 |
| Twighlight end | 04:52 |
| Twighlight duration | 7h 55m |
| Rise | 16:40 |
| Set | 06:17 |
| Elevation at transit | 64° |
| Transit time | 23:29 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 12h 18m 49s", Dec: 14° 24' 59s |
| 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 M99 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.