Messier 48
M48
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Open Cluster
- Distance from Earth
- 2,500 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.5 mag
- Apparent size
- 54 ′
- NASA description
- This open cluster has a complicated history of discovery.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 2,500 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left 2,500 years ago (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 5.5 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- It spans about 54′ of sky — about 1.7 times the full Moon's 31′.