M 50 Deep sky · Open cluster in Monoceros · M 50 · NGC 2323
Heart-Shaped Cluster
An open cluster in Monoceros, between Sirius and Procyon, whose brighter stars draw a heart.
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- Type
- Open cluster
- Designations
- M 50 · NGC 2323
- Constellation
- Monoceros
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.9
- Apparent size
- 15′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 07h 03m · Dec −08° 20′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 2.1 times as wide. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 31°, around early July, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Sun 3 Jan 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT | 18:54 | 00:11 · 30° | 05:27 |
| New York EST | 18:35 | 00:05 · 41° | 05:35 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:18 | 01:16 · 80° | 07:14 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 18:45 | 01:07 · 65° | 07:29 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 32° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 63° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around early January, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by early April it is highest in the early evening, and in early 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
Sweep about a third of the way from Sirius towards Procyon. Binoculars show a misty patch; a telescope, a heart of stars with a red one among them.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 32°; from 35° north it climbs to 47°; from the equator it climbs to 82°; from 35° south it climbs to 63°.
Look for
Magnitude 5.9 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (1.4 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (1.1 to spare); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (5.1 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (6.6 to spare). Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 3% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 25% of the field’s width.