M2 Observation Details
M2 Daily Motion
M2 will be visible throughout the entire night. It will rise at 19:11, just before twilight begins, and will be at 22° when twilight starts at 21:08. It will reach its transit at 50° at 01:07, and will fade away as twilight ends at 05:20, being at 20° elevation.M2 will be visible until January, 5, 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.
M2 Visibility Timetable on August 15
M2 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M2 rise | 19:11 | |
| Sunset | 20:04 | 10° |
| Civil sunset | 20:34 | 16° |
| Astrosession begin | 21:45 | 29° |
| Moon Rise, 62.7% illuminated | 22:51 | 39° |
| M2 transit | 01:07 | 50° |
| Astrosession end | 04:43 | 26° |
| Civil sunrise | 05:55 | 13° |
| Sunrise | 06:24 | 8° |
| M2 set | 07:04 | |
| Moon Set | 13:37 | -51° |
Track M2 Position Throughout the Night
← Fri, 15 August 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M2 - Globular Cluster
M2 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Aquarius. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and later included in Messier's catalog in 1760. This cluster is one of the largest and oldest known globular clusters.
M2 spans about 175 light-years across and contains over 150,000 stars. The cluster is densely packed at its core, making it appear very bright. M2 is approximately 55,000 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 6.5, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M2 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 M2
| Object name | M2 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M2 coordinates | 21.5575, -0.82331 |
| Center coordinates | 21.5575, -0.82331 |
M2 Passage Through Night
Current position of M2
| Time | 16:11 |
| Latitude | 39.0469 |
| Longitude | -77.4903 |
| M2 elevation | -34° |
| M2 Azimuth | -59° |
Annual motion of M2
| Date | Fri, 15 August 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 21:41 |
| Twighlight end | 04:37 |
| Twighlight duration | 7h 56m |
| Rise | 19:07 |
| Set | 07:00 |
| Elevation at transit | 50° |
| Transit time | 01:04 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 21h 33m 27s", Dec: 00° 49' 23s |
| Magnitude | 6 |
| Constellation | Aquarius |
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 M2 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.