M32 Observation Details
M32 Daily Motion
M32 will rise before twilight begins, at 16:31, and will reach 17° elevation by the time twilight commences at 18:38. It will reach its transit at 86° by 01:15 and gradually fade away as the night ends at 03:38, maintaining an elevation of around 62°.M32 will be visible until March, 9, 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.
M32 Visibility Timetable on August 30
M32 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 36.6% illuminated | 10:57 | -5° |
| M32 rise | 16:31 | |
| Sunset | 17:39 | 9° |
| Civil sunset | 18:07 | 13° |
| Astrosession begin | 19:12 | 23° |
| Moon Set | 20:42 | 38° |
| M32 transit | 01:15 | 86° |
| Astrosession end | 03:05 | 68° |
| Civil sunrise | 04:10 | 56° |
| Sunrise | 04:38 | 51° |
| M32 set | 09:58 |
Track M32 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 30 August 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is M32 right now?
M32 is located in the constellation Andromeda, at right ascension 00h 42m 41s" and declination 40° 51' 55s. At the current time, it is below the horizon and not visible from your location.M32 - Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy
M32 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1749 and later included in Messier's catalog. M32 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
M32 spans about 6,500 light-years across and contains several billion stars. The galaxy is approximately 2.65 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.1, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M32 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 M32
| Object name | M32 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M32 coordinates | 0.71162, 40.86528 |
| Center coordinates | 0.71162, 40.86528 |
M32 Passage Through Night
Current position of M32
| Time | 15:39 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M32 elevation | -5° |
| M32 Azimuth | -26° |
Annual motion of M32
| Date | Sun, 31 August 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:09 |
| Twighlight end | 03:03 |
| Twighlight duration | 8h 54m |
| Rise | 16:27 |
| Set | 09:55 |
| Elevation at transit | 86° |
| Transit time | 01:11 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 00h 42m 41s", Dec: 40° 51' 55s |
| Magnitude | 8 |
| 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 M32 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 M32
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 0.71162° |
| Declination | 40.86528° |
| Magnitude | 8.13 |
| Constellation | Andromeda |
| Elevation | -5.3° |
| Azimuth | -26.2° |
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.