M74 Observation Details

M74 Daily Motion
M74 will reach transit at 14:42. By the time twilight starts at 20:51 it will be at an elevation of 8° degrees and will set at 21:36, before twilight ends.M74 will become visible in June, 22. After being too close to the Sun to observe, it will reappear in the night sky. Starting from June, 22, M74 can be seen again, providing a good opportunity for observation.
M74 Visibility Timetable on March 29
M74 Rise and Set Timetable
Time | Elevation | |
Moon Rise, 1.5% illuminated | 06:54 | -9° |
M74 transit | 14:42 | 66° |
Moon Set | 19:14 | 27° |
Sunset | 19:51 | 20° |
Civil sunset | 20:19 | 14° |
Astrosession begin | 21:24 | 2° |
M74 set | 21:36 | |
Astrosession end | 05:48 | -19° |
M74 rise | 07:45 |
Track M74 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 29 March 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 | 11:47 |
Latitude | 39.9625 |
Longitude | -83.0061 |
M74 elevation | 45° |
M74 Azimuth | -109° |
Annual motion of M74
Date | Sat, 29 March 2025 |
Twighlight start | 21:20 |
Twighlight end | 05:43 |
Twighlight duration | 8h 23m |
Rise | 07:45 |
Set | 21:32 |
Elevation at transit | 66° |
Transit time | 14:39 |
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.