M74 Observation Details
M74 Daily Motion
M74 will reach its transit before twilight, at 15:56. By the onset of twilight at 19:15, it will be at elevation, and it will set before sunrise, at 22:50.M74 will be visible until March, 7, 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.
M74 Visibility Timetable on February 23
M74 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 34.4% illuminated | 03:37 | -34° |
| Moon Set | 12:17 | 37° |
| M74 transit | 15:56 | 66° |
| Sunset | 18:15 | 51° |
| Civil sunset | 18:43 | 46° |
| Astrosession begin | 19:46 | 35° |
| M74 set | 22:50 | |
| Astrosession end | 05:43 | -29° |
| M74 rise | 08:59 |
Track M74 Position Throughout the Night
← Sun, 23 February 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M74 - Phantom Galaxy
The Phantom Galaxy (M74) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Pisces. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M74 is known for its well-defined spiral arms and low surface brightness.
M74 spans about 95,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 32 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.0, making it visible with a small telescope.
M74 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 M74
| Object name | M74 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M74 coordinates | 1.6116, 15.78367 |
| Center coordinates | 1.6116, 15.78367 |
M74 Passage Through Night
Current position of M74
| Time | 12:38 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M74 elevation | 41° |
| M74 Azimuth | -105° |
Annual motion of M74
| Date | Sun, 23 February 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:42 |
| Twighlight end | 05:38 |
| Twighlight duration | 10h 56m |
| Rise | 08:59 |
| Set | 22:46 |
| Elevation at transit | 66° |
| Transit time | 15:52 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 01h 36m 41s", Dec: 15° 47' 01s |
| Magnitude | 9 |
| Constellation | Pisces |
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 M74 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.