M31: Rise, Set, Nighttime Path
![M31](https://sky-tonight.com/image/card/nebula/M31/M31.png)
M31 Daily Motion
M31 will rise before twilight begins, at 17:55, and will reach 23° elevation by the time twilight commences at 20:52. It will reach its transit at 89° by 03:03 and gradually fade away as the night ends at 06:07, maintaining an elevation of around 55°.M31 will be visible until March, 11, 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.
M31 Rise and Set Timetable
Time | Elevation | |
M31 Rise | 17:55 | |
Sunset | 19:51 | 14° |
Civil sunset | 20:20 | 18° |
Astrosession begin | 20:52 | 23° |
M31 transit | 03:03 | 89° |
Astrosession end | 06:07 | 55° |
Civil sunrise | 06:39 | 50° |
Sunrise | 07:08 | 44° |
M31 Set | 12:11 |
M31 Sky Tracker Map
Time | |
Altitude | |
Azimuth |
M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. It was observed by Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in 964 and cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764. M31 is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and is on a collision course with our galaxy.
M31 spans about 220,000 light-years across and contains approximately one trillion stars. The galaxy is approximately 2.54 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 3.4, making it visible to the naked eye under dark skies.
M31 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
![M31 photo taken with blue filter](https://sky-tonight.com/images/nebulae/256/dss_blue/M31.webp)
DSS Red
![M31 photo taken with red filter](https://sky-tonight.com/images/nebulae/256/dss_red/M31.webp)
DSS Near-Infrared
![M31 photo taken with Near-Infrared filter](https://sky-tonight.com/images/nebulae/256/dss_nir/M31.webp)
DSS Composite image
![M31 color image](https://sky-tonight.com/images/nebulae/256/dss_color/M31.webp)
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 M31
Object name | M31 |
Field of view | |
Limiting magnitude | |
M31 coordinates | 0.71232, 41.26906 |
Center coordinates | 0.71232, 41.26906 |
M31 Passage Through Night
Current position of M31
Time | 20:36 |
Latitude | 39.9625 |
Longitude | -83.0061 |
M31 elevation | 21° |
M31 Azimuth | -53° |
Annual motion of M31
Date | Mon, 9 September 2024 |
Twighlight start | 21:24 |
Twighlight end | 05:32 |
Twighlight duration | 8h 9m |
Rise | 17:51 |
Set | 12:07 |
Elevation at transit | 89° |
Transit time | 02:59 |
Equatorial coordinate | RA: 00h 42m 44s, Dec: 41° 16' 08" |
Magnitude | 3 |
Constellation | Andromeda |
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 M31 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.