Messier Objects Tonight
Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects cataloged by the French astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. These objects include a variety of celestial phenomena such as star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. The catalog was created to help astronomers distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the night sky. Some of the most famous Messier objects include the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Orion Nebula (M42), and the Pleiades star cluster (M45). The Messier Catalog remains a popular reference for amateur and professional astronomers alike.Sky Map
Celectial bearing and elevation at 02:28
This interactive skymap shows the positions of the brightest celestial objects tonight from your location. You can explore the sky by moving the map horizontally to see how stars, planets, and other key objects shift as the night progresses. It’s designed to help you quickly get oriented and find the most noticeable sights in the sky.
M39
Open Cluster
An open star cluster containing approximately 30 stars, located approximately 800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
Hercules Globular Cluster (M13)
Globular Cluster
The Great Hercules Cluster, a large globular cluster containing several hundred thousand stars, located in the constellation Hercules.
Amas de l'Ecu de Sobieski (M11)
Open Cluster
The Wild Duck Cluster, an open star cluster containing over 2900 stars, located in the constellation Scutum.
M71
Globular Cluster
A loose globular cluster containing tens of thousands of stars, located approximately 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagitta.
M2
Globular Cluster
A globular cluster containing hundreds of thousands of stars, located approximately 55,000 light-years away.
M15
Globular Cluster
A dense globular cluster containing hundreds of thousands of stars, located in the constellation Pegasus, approximately 33,600 light-years away.
M92
Globular Cluster
Globular cluster one of the oldest clusters known, contains high metallicity stars.
M29
Open Cluster
An open star cluster containing over 400 stars, part of the Cygnus OB1 association, located approximately 4,000 light-years away.
M52
Open Cluster
An open star cluster containing over 200 stars, located approximately 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia.
M103
Open Cluster
M103 is an open cluster with apparent magnitude 7.40 in the constellation Cassiopeia, spanning approximately 4.5 arcseconds in the sky.
M56
Globular Cluster
A globular cluster containing tens of thousands of stars, located approximately 32,900 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.
M26
Open Cluster
A sparse open star cluster containing about 20 stars, located approximately 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Scutum.
M73
Association of stars
An asterism consisting of four stars, located approximately 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
M72
Globular Cluster
A globular cluster containing hundreds of thousands of stars, located approximately 53,000 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
Ring Nebula (M57)
Planetary Nebula
The Ring Nebula, a planetary nebula containing a central white dwarf star, located approximately 2,300 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.
Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
Planetary Nebula
The Dumbbell Nebula, a planetary nebula characterized by its hourglass shape, located approximately 1,360 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.
M32
Galaxy
A satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy, containing approximately 3 billion stars, located approximately 2.537 million light-years away.
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, containing over a trillion stars, located approximately 2.537 million light-years away.
Triangulum Galaxy (M33)
Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy, a spiral galaxy containing approximately 40 billion stars, located approximately 3 million light-years away.
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.