M109 Observation Details
M109 Daily Motion
M109 is circumpolar, never setting below the horizon and always visible in the night sky from your location. However, it will change its position significantly, moving 73 degrees over time. You can find the best times to observe M109, when it reaches its highest elevation, in the annual motion section.M109 will be visible until August, 28, 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.
M109 Visibility Timetable on January 15
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M109 is always above the horizon | ||
| Sunset | 17:29 | 4° |
| Civil sunset | 18:00 | 5° |
| Moon Rise, 98.7% illuminated | 18:18 | 5° |
| Astrosession begin | 19:06 | 8° |
| M109 is always above the horizon | ||
| M109 transit | 04:49 | 77° |
| Astrosession end | 06:16 | 70° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:22 | 61° |
| Sunrise | 07:53 | 56° |
| Moon Set | 09:17 | 44° |
Track M109 Position Throughout the Night
← Wed, 15 January 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy
M109 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M109 is known for its bright central bar and well-defined spiral arms.
M109 spans about 120,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 83 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.8, making it visible with a small telescope.
M109 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 M109
| Object name | M109 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M109 coordinates | 11.95999, 53.37453 |
| Center coordinates | 11.95999, 53.37453 |
M109 Passage Through Night
Current position of M109
| Time | 23:44 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M109 elevation | 39° |
| M109 Azimuth | -48° |
Annual motion of M109
| Date | Thu, 16 January 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:07 |
| Twighlight end | 06:14 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 7m |
| Rise | M109 is always up |
| Set | M109 is always up |
| Elevation at transit | 77° |
| Transit time | 04:45 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 11h 57m 35s", Dec: 53° 22' 28s |
| Magnitude | 10 |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
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 M109 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.