M53 Observation Details
M53 Daily Motion
M53 will be visible until August, 15, 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.
M53 Visibility Timetable on May 09
M53 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| M53 rise | 16:33 | |
| Moon Rise, 87.4% illuminated | 17:00 | 5° |
| Sunset | 20:32 | 45° |
| Civil sunset | 21:04 | 51° |
| Astrosession begin | 22:21 | 63° |
| M53 transit | 23:36 | 68° |
| Astrosession end | 04:35 | 23° |
| Moon Set | 04:45 | 21° |
| Civil sunrise | 05:52 | 8° |
| Sunrise | 06:23 | 3° |
| M53 set | 06:38 |
Track M53 Position Throughout the Night
← Fri, 9 May 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M53 - Globular Cluster
M53 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1775 and independently by Charles Messier in 1777. The cluster contains a rich population of old stars.
M53 spans about 220 light-years across and contains around 500,000 stars. The cluster is approximately 58,000 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.6, making it visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
M53 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 M53
| Object name | M53 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M53 coordinates | 13.21534, 18.16911 |
| Center coordinates | 13.21534, 18.16911 |
M53 Passage Through Night
Current position of M53
| Time | 04:28 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M53 elevation | 24° |
| M53 Azimuth | 86° |
Annual motion of M53
| Date | Sat, 10 May 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 22:18 |
| Twighlight end | 04:28 |
| Twighlight duration | 6h 10m |
| Rise | 16:29 |
| Set | 06:34 |
| Elevation at transit | 68° |
| Transit time | 23:32 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 13h 12m 55s", Dec: 18° 10' 08s |
| Magnitude | 8 |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices |
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 M53 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.