M18 Observation Details
M18 Daily Motion
M18 will not be observable tonight. It will reach its transit at 36° by 15:32 and set at 20:37. Throughout the night, from 20:47 to 04:24, it will be below the horizon. M18 will rise again after sunrise, at 10:24.M18 will become visible in March, 9. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from March, 9, M18 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M18 Visibility Timetable on October 20
M18 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 3.7% illuminated | 03:38 | -70° |
| Moon Set | 15:29 | 36° |
| M18 transit | 15:32 | 36° |
| Sunset | 16:23 | 34° |
| Civil sunset | 16:51 | 32° |
| Astrosession begin | 17:51 | 26° |
| M18 set | 20:37 | |
| Astrosession end | 03:53 | -69° |
| M18 rise | 10:24 |
Track M18 Position Throughout the Night
← Mon, 20 October 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is M18 right now?
M18 is located in the constellation Sagittarius, at right ascension 18h 19m 58s" and declination -17° 06' 07s. At the current time, it is below the horizon and not visible from your location.M18 - Open Cluster
M18 is an open cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. The cluster contains a mix of young, hot stars and older stars.
M18 spans about 8 light-years across and contains around 20 stars. The cluster is approximately 4,900 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.5, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M18 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 M18
| Object name | M18 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M18 coordinates | 18.33291, -17.10197 |
| Center coordinates | 18.33291, -17.10197 |
M18 Passage Through Night
Current position of M18
| Time | 20:47 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M18 elevation | -2° |
| M18 Azimuth | 110° |
Annual motion of M18
| Date | Tue, 21 October 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 17:50 |
| Twighlight end | 03:52 |
| Twighlight duration | 10h 2m |
| Rise | 10:24 |
| Set | 20:33 |
| Elevation at transit | 36° |
| Transit time | 15:28 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 18h 19m 58s", Dec: -17° 06' 07s |
| Magnitude | 7 |
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
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 M18 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.
Astrometric & Physical Parameters of M18
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 18.33291° |
| Declination | -17.10197° |
| Magnitude | 6.90 |
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Elevation | -1.8° |
| Azimuth | 110.3° |
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.