M 48 Deep sky · Open cluster in Hydra · M 48 · NGC 2548
M 48
A large open cluster in Hydra that went missing from the catalogue for well over a century, after Messier recorded its place wrongly.
Save the chart (SVG) Tactile chart (A4 SVG)
- Type
- Open cluster
- Designations
- M 48 · NGC 2548
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.8
- Apparent size
- 30′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 08h 14m · Dec −05° 45′
It is about as wide as the full Moon, which is about 31′ across. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 25°, around late July, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Thu 21 Jan 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT | 18:41 | 00:11 · 33° | 05:40 |
| New York EST | 18:26 | 00:05 · 43° | 05:44 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:17 | 01:16 · 83° | 07:14 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 18:52 | 01:07 · 62° | 07:22 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 34° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 61° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around late January, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by late April it is highest in the early evening, and in late October not until the hours before dawn.
- Naked eye, binoculars or telescope?
- The naked eye, from a dark country sky, which shows stars to about magnitude 7.0; from a city, binoculars.
Look for
It lies on the empty border of Hydra and Monoceros, and binoculars show it well: a broad, even scatter of stars.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 34°; from 35° north it climbs to 49°; from the equator it climbs to 84°; from 35° south it climbs to 61°.
Look for
Magnitude 5.8 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (1.3 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (1.2 to spare); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (5.2 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (6.7 to spare). Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 7% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 50% of the field’s width.