M 77 Deep sky · Galaxy in Cetus · M 77 · NGC 1068
Cetus A
A spiral galaxy with a blazing active nucleus in Cetus — one of the galaxies Carl Seyfert used to define a whole class of active galaxies.
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- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- M 77 · NGC 1068
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 8.9
- Apparent size
- 7′ × 6′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 02h 43m · Dec −00° 01′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 4.4 times as wide. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 15°, around late April, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Thu 29 Oct 2026, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT | 18:11 | 00:11 · 39° | 06:10 |
| New York EDT | 19:06 | 01:05 · 49° | 07:05 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:17 | 01:16 · 89° | 07:15 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 19:08 | 01:07 · 56° | 07:06 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 40° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 55° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around late October, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by late January it is highest in the early evening, and in late July not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 8.9 in total, but that light is spread over 7′ × 6′ of sky: on average 21.6 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 8.9 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Science
Gas spirals into a supermassive black hole at its centre and glows white-hot, outshining much of the galaxy around it.
Look for
It lies in Cetus, close to the star Delta Ceti, almost on the celestial equator. A small telescope shows a bright, star-like core.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 40°; from 35° north it climbs to 55°; from the equator it climbs to 90°; from 35° south it climbs to 55°.
Look for
Magnitude 8.9 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (4.4 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (1.9 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (2.2 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (3.7 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 12% of the field’s width.