M 74 Deep sky · Galaxy in Pisces · M 74 · NGC 628
Phantom Galaxy
The Phantom Galaxy: a perfect face-on spiral in Pisces, so faint and spread out that it is one of the hardest Messier objects to see.
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- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- M 74 · NGC 628
- Constellation
- Pisces
- Apparent magnitude
- 9.4
- Apparent size
- 11′ × 10′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 01h 37m · Dec +15° 47′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 3 times as wide. The Sun passes 5° from it around mid April, and for about 29 days of the year it sits within 15° of the Sun, lost in its glare.
When to see it
On the night of Wed 13 Oct 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT+1 | 17:46 | 01:09 · 54° | 08:32 |
| New York EDT | 18:08 | 01:04 · 65° | 07:59 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:14 | 01:14 · 75° | 07:15 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 19:50 | 01:05 · 40° | 06:20 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 56° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 39° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around mid October, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by mid January it is highest in the early evening, and in mid July not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 9.4 in total, but that light is spread over 11′ × 10′ of sky: on average 23.0 magnitudes per square arcsecond. Against a dark country sky that average stands out; a city’s glow drowns all but its brightest parts.
- Naked eye, binoculars or telescope?
- Binoculars. At magnitude 9.4 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
Its light is spread over a wide disk, so it needs a dark sky; it lies in eastern Pisces, near the border with Aries.
Science
Its arms are lined with star-forming regions, which the James Webb telescope imaged in detail.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 56°; from 35° north it climbs to 71°; from the equator it climbs to 74°; from 35° south it climbs to 39°.
Look for
Magnitude 9.4 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (4.9 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (2.4 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (1.6 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (3.1 to spare). Those limits are for a point of light; its light is spread over its whole size, so it needs some of that margin in hand. Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 2% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 18% of the field’s width.