Messier 76 (Little Dumbbell Nebula) - Planetary Nebula in Perseus
Messier 76 is a Planetary Nebula in the Perseus constellation. Messier 76 is situated north of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere.
- Messier 76 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom . Its current altitude is 45° above the horizon. See also rise and set times.
- Given its visual magnitude of 10.1, Messier 76 is visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
Photometric information of Messier 76
The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 76 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).
For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.
Apparent size of Messier 76
The following table reports Messier 76 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 76 is a visual representation of it.Digitized Sky Survey image of Messier 76
The image below is a photograph of Messier 76 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 0.5x0.5 degrees (30x30 arcmins).

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Messier 76
Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of Messier 76 are provided in the following table:
The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 76 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.


Rise ans set times of Messier 76 from your location
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Messier 76 (Little Dumbbell Nebula) - Planetary Nebula in Perseus is circumpolar and transits at 08:56 UTC (altitude: 89.9°)