M85 Observation Details
M85 Daily Motion
M85 will be visible until July, 28, 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.
M85 Visibility Timetable on January 21
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Astrosession begin | 19:13 | -23° |
| M85 rise | 21:46 | |
| Moon Rise, 46.2% illuminated | 01:37 | 43° |
| M85 transit | 04:49 | 68° |
| Astrosession end | 06:13 | 62° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:18 | 51° |
| Sunrise | 07:49 | 46° |
| Moon Set | 11:50 | 0° |
| M85 set | 11:52 |
Track M85 Position Throughout the Night
← Tue, 21 January 2025 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M85 - Lenticular Galaxy
M85 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M85 is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and is known for its bright core and lack of spiral arms.
M85 spans about 125,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of old stars. The galaxy is approximately 60 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.1, making it visible with a small telescope.
M85 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 M85
| Object name | M85 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M85 coordinates | 12.42336, 18.1915 |
| Center coordinates | 12.42336, 18.1915 |
M85 Passage Through Night
Current position of M85
| Time | 08:56 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M85 elevation | 34° |
| M85 Azimuth | 94° |
Annual motion of M85
| Date | Wed, 22 January 2025 |
| Twighlight start | 19:09 |
| Twighlight end | 06:08 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 59m |
| Rise | 21:46 |
| Set | 11:52 |
| Elevation at transit | 68° |
| Transit time | 04:49 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 12h 25m 24s", Dec: 18° 11' 29s |
| Magnitude | 9 |
| 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 M85 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.