M52 Observation Details
M52 Daily Motion
M52 is circumpolar, never setting below the horizon and always visible in the night sky from your location. However, it will change its position significantly, moving 57 degrees over time. You can find the best times to observe M52, when it reaches its highest elevation, in the annual motion section.M52 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.
M52 Visibility Timetable on December 22
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M52 is always above the horizon | ||
| Sunset | 17:08 | 67° |
| Civil sunset | 17:40 | 68° |
| M52 transit | 17:52 | 68° |
| Astrosession begin | 18:48 | 67° |
| M52 is always above the horizon | ||
| Moon Rise, 57% illuminated | 23:50 | 35° |
| Astrosession end | 06:13 | 12° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:20 | 13° |
| Sunrise | 07:52 | 15° |
| Moon Set | 12:24 | 38° |
Track M52 Position Throughout the Night
← Sun, 22 December 2024 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M52 - Open Cluster
M52 is an open cluster located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. The cluster contains a rich population of young, hot stars.
M52 spans about 19 light-years across and contains around 200 stars. The cluster is approximately 5,000 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.3, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M52 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 M52
| Object name | M52 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M52 coordinates | 23.41344, 61.59317 |
| Center coordinates | 23.41344, 61.59317 |
M52 Passage Through Night
Current position of M52
| Time | 22:21 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M52 elevation | 45° |
| M52 Azimuth | 38° |
Annual motion of M52
| Date | Mon, 23 December 2024 |
| Twighlight start | 18:48 |
| Twighlight end | 06:11 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 23m |
| Rise | M52 is always up |
| Set | M52 is always up |
| Elevation at transit | 68° |
| Transit time | 17:48 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 23h 24m 48s", Dec: 61° 35' 35s |
| Magnitude | 7 |
| Constellation | Cassiopeia |
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 M52 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.