M32 Observation Details
M32 Daily Motion
M32 will reach its transit before twilight, at 17:08. By the onset of twilight at 20:20, it will be at elevation, and it will set before sunrise, at 02:13.M32 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.
M32 Visibility Timetable on January 22
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M32 transit | 17:08 | 89° |
| Sunset | 17:37 | 84° |
| Civil sunset | 18:07 | 79° |
| Astrosession begin | 19:13 | 66° |
| Moon Rise, 46.2% illuminated | 01:37 | 4° |
| M32 set | 02:13 | |
| Astrosession end | 06:13 | -8° |
| M32 rise | 08:00 | |
| Moon Set | 11:50 | 32° |
Track M32 Position Throughout the Night
← Wed, 22 January 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
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 | 20:20 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M32 elevation | 54° |
| M32 Azimuth | 73° |
Annual motion of M32
| Date | Thu, 23 January 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:14 |
| Twighlight end | 06:11 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 58m |
| Rise | 08:00 |
| Set | 02:09 |
| Elevation at transit | 89° |
| Transit time | 17:04 |
| Equatorial coordinate | 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.
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.