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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 6:47  
clear_day Transit: 12:50  
SunsetSet: 18:52 south
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Other deep sky objects in Orion
All Constellations »  Orion »  Deep Sky Objects » 

Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion

Altitude: 6.1°   Azimuth: 253.4°   Direction: West-South-West

Messier 42 is a Star Cluster + Nebula in the Orion constellation. Messier 42 is situated close to the celestial equator and, as such, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year.

Messier 42
Star Cluster + Nebula
Orion

Messier 42 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 6.1°
Azimuth: 253.4°
Direction: West-South-West

See also Messier 42 rise and set times.

Given its visual magnitude of 4, Messier 42 is barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.

Available Resources for Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion

Photometric information of Messier 42

The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 42 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

4
4

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

Apparent size of Messier 42

The following table reports Messier 42 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 42 is a visual representation of it.
90 arcmin
60 arcmin

Digitized Sky Survey image of Messier 42

The image below is a photograph of Messier 42 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 3x3 degrees (180x180 arcmins).

Image of Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
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DSS2 image of Messier 42 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (90 arcmin) and minor (60 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Messier 42

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of Messier 42 are provided in the following table:

05h 35m 16s
-05° 23’ 22”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 42 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion.

Finder chart Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion star
Simplified finder chart for Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion.

Rise ans set times of Messier 42 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's Messier 42 (Great Orion Nebula) - Star Cluster + Nebula in Orion rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 95.4°
Max altitude: 33.1°
Azimuth: 264.6°