Deep space
Messier 48
Open cluster · M48 · NGC 2548
Open cluster in Hydra
Photo: Ole Nielsen · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Messier 48 or M48, also known as NGC 2548, is an open cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Hydra. It sits near Hydra's westernmost limit with Monoceros, about 18° 34′ to the east and slightly south of Hydra's brightest star, Alphard. This grouping was discovered by Charles Messier in 1771, but there is no cluster precisely where Messier indicated; he made an error, as he did with M47. The value that he gave for the right ascension matches, however, his declination is off by five degrees. Credit for discovery is sometimes given instead to Caroline Herschel in 1783. Her nephew John Herschel described it as, "a superb cluster which fills the whole field; stars of 9th and 10th to the 13th magnitude – and none below, but the whole ground of the sky on which it stands is singularly dotted over with infinitely minute points".
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~1,500 light-years
Apparent mag.
+5.5
Apparent size
30′
Best seen with
Naked eye (dark sky)
Catalogue
M48 · NGC 2548
Did you know
- Listed as Messier 48 in the Messier catalogue, also known as NGC 2548.
- Found in the constellation Hydra.
- Visible to the naked eye from a dark, moonless site.
