M50 Observation Details
M50 Daily Motion
M50 will be visible until April, 24, 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.
M50 Visibility Timetable on September 18
M50 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 19.7% illuminated | 00:26 | -5° |
| Moon Set | 15:21 | -40° |
| Astrosession begin | 18:39 | -61° |
| M50 rise | 00:45 | |
| Astrosession end | 03:24 | 29° |
| Civil sunrise | 04:26 | 37° |
| Sunrise | 04:53 | 40° |
| M50 transit | 06:19 | 44° |
Track M50 Position Throughout the Night
← Thu, 18 September 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is M50 right now?
M50 is located in the constellation Monoceros, at right ascension 07h 02m 40s" and declination -8° 21' 50s. At the current time, it is above the horizon at an altitude of 23 degrees toward the west-southwest from your location, with an apparent magnitude of 5.90.M50 - Open Cluster
M50 is an open cluster located in the constellation Monoceros. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and independently by Charles Messier in 1772. The cluster contains a rich population of young, hot stars.
M50 spans about 20 light-years across and contains around 200 stars. The cluster is approximately 3,200 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 5.9, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M50 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 M50
| Object name | M50 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M50 coordinates | 7.04458, -8.36403 |
| Center coordinates | 7.04458, -8.36403 |
M50 Passage Through Night
Current position of M50
| Time | 02:51 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M50 elevation | 23° |
| M50 Azimuth | -122° |
Annual motion of M50
| Date | Fri, 19 September 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 18:33 |
| Twighlight end | 03:19 |
| Twighlight duration | 9h 46m |
| Rise | 00:42 |
| Set | 11:48 |
| Elevation at transit | 44° |
| Transit time | 06:15 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 07h 02m 40s", Dec: -8° 21' 50s |
| Magnitude | 6 |
| Constellation | Monoceros |
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 M50 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 M50
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 7.04458° |
| Declination | -8.36403° |
| Magnitude | 5.90 |
| Constellation | Monoceros |
| Elevation | 23.3° |
| Azimuth | -121.9° |
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.