Andromeda Galaxy (M31) Observation Details
M31 Daily Motion
Tonight, observing M31 may prove challenging owing to its low elevation. It will reach its transit at by 14:00 and set before sunset at 23:08. Rising near twilight's end at 04:49, it will fade away by 06:26, peaking at just 11° above the horizon.M31 will become visible in May, 16. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from May, 16, M31 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M31 Visibility Timetable on March 26
M31 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 21.3% illuminated | 05:31 | 4° |
| M31 transit | 14:00 | 89° |
| Moon Set | 15:27 | 74° |
| Sunset | 19:48 | 27° |
| Civil sunset | 20:16 | 22° |
| Astrosession begin | 21:21 | 13° |
| M31 set | 23:08 | |
| M31 rise | 04:49 | |
| Astrosession end | 05:53 | 7° |
| Civil sunrise | 06:58 | 16° |
| Sunrise | 07:26 | 20° |
Track M31 Position Throughout the Night
← Wed, 26 March 2025 →
| 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
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 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 | 23:56 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M31 elevation | -4° |
| M31 Azimuth | 23° |
Annual motion of M31
| Date | Thu, 27 March 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 21:22 |
| Twighlight end | 05:50 |
| Twighlight duration | 8h 29m |
| Rise | 04:49 |
| Set | 23:04 |
| Elevation at transit | 89° |
| Transit time | 13:57 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 00h 42m 44s", Dec: 41° 16' 08s |
| 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.
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.