M77 Observation Details
M77 Daily Motion
M77 will rise before twilight begins, at 21:00, and will reach 16° elevation by the time twilight commences at 22:22. It will reach its transit at 53° by 02:59 and gradually fade away as the night ends at 03:42, maintaining an elevation of around 51°.M77 will be visible until March, 10, 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.
M77 Visibility Timetable on September 03
M77 Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 75.5% illuminated | 14:44 | -52° |
| Astrosession begin | 19:05 | -23° |
| M77 rise | 21:00 | |
| Moon Set | 23:57 | 34° |
| M77 transit | 02:59 | 53° |
| Astrosession end | 03:09 | 53° |
| Civil sunrise | 04:13 | 49° |
| Sunrise | 04:41 | 46° |
| M77 set | 08:57 |
Track M77 Position Throughout the Night
← Wed, 3 September 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
Where is M77 right now?
M77 is located in the constellation Cetus, at right ascension 02h 42m 40s" and declination 00° 00' 47s. At the current time, it is above the horizon at an altitude of 16 degrees toward the west-southwest from your location, with an apparent magnitude of 9.29.M77 - Barred Spiral Galaxy
M77 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M77 is one of the largest galaxies in the Messier catalog and is known for its active galactic nucleus.
M77 spans about 170,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of stars, gas, and dust. The galaxy is approximately 47 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.9, making it visible with a small telescope.
M77 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 M77
| Object name | M77 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M77 coordinates | 2.71131, -0.01328 |
| Center coordinates | 2.71131, -0.01328 |
M77 Passage Through Night
Current position of M77
| Time | 22:22 |
| Latitude | 37.3541 |
| Longitude | -121.955 |
| M77 elevation | 16° |
| M77 Azimuth | -103° |
Annual motion of M77
| Date | Thu, 4 September 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:03 |
| Twighlight end | 03:08 |
| Twighlight duration | 8h 5m |
| Rise | 20:56 |
| Set | 08:54 |
| Elevation at transit | 53° |
| Transit time | 02:55 |
| Equatorial coordinates | RA: 02h 42m 40s", Dec: 00° 00' 47s |
| Magnitude | 9 |
| Constellation | Cetus |
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 M77 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 M77
Coordinates & Visibility
| Right Ascension | 2.71131° |
| Declination | -0.01328° |
| Magnitude | 9.29 |
| Constellation | Cetus |
| Elevation | 16.4° |
| Azimuth | -103° |
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.