Phantom Galaxy (Messier 74 / NGC 628)
J2000 coordinates, TRGB/SN distance (31.9 Mly), magnitude 9.46, face-on grand-design spiral arms, JWST dust filaments, and observing guide for M74.
Provenance-Backed Scientific Measurements
Every measurement below preserves its unit, uncertainty interval, observational method, reference epoch, quality status, and primary catalog source. See Uncertainty & Provenance for how competing measurements are handled.
| Parameter | Value | Uncertainty | Method & Epoch | Quality Status | Source Archive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrated visual magnitude (V) | 9.46 mag | ± 0.1 mag | Wide-field integrated CCD photometry | definitive | Revised New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue (RNGC/IC) |
| Distance in light-years | 31900000 ly | ± 1000000 ly | HST Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) + SN 2013ej photospheric distance (9.77 ± 0.32 Mpc) | definitive | SH0ES Local Distance Ladder Hubble Constant |
| Apparent major axis | 10.5 arcmin | ± 0.4 arcmin | Optical isophotal dimensions (10.5′ × 9.5′) | definitive | Revised New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue (RNGC/IC) |
| Heliocentric recession velocity | 657 km/s | ± 1 km/s | THINGS H I 21-cm synthesis velocity field | definitive | SIMBAD Astronomical Database (CDS) |
J2000 Equatorial Sky Chart & Culmination Altitude
The chart below plots Phantom Galaxy (Messier 74 / NGC 628) at RA 01h 36m 41.75s, Dec +15° 47′ 00.5″ within Pisces, alongside peak meridian transit altitudes for 40°N and 30°S observers. Use the RA/Dec Coordinate Converter to compute exact culmination altitude for your latitude.
Astrophysical Context & Structure
Discovered by Pierre Méchain in late September 1780 and confirmed by Charles Messier three weeks later, Messier 74 (NGC 628) is one of the finest textbook examples of a face-on grand-design SA(s)c spiral galaxy in the local universe. Located 31.9 million light-years away in Pisces and tilted less than 7 degrees from a true face-on orientation, M74 spans ~95,000 light-years across and contains roughly 100 billion stars.
In August 2022, images of M74 from the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) became an instant icon of modern astronomy: stripped of optical starlight, M74's two logarithmic spiral arms appeared as a glowing, skeletal filigree of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon dust lanes honeycombed with gigantic cavernous bubbles carved out by overlapping generations of stellar winds and supernovae, with a nuclear star cluster stripped completely bare of gas at the center.
M74 has hosted three prominent core-collapse supernovae in the 21st century—Type Ic SN 2002ap (a hypernova associated with gamma-ray burst physics), Type II-P SN 2003gd, and SN 2013ej—and harbors an ultraluminous quasi-periodic X-ray source (CXOU J013651.1+154547) suspected to be an intermediate-mass black hole of ~10,000 solar masses.
Practical Visual Observing Guide
- Easy to point to—just 1.3° east-northeast of Eta Piscium (η Psc, magnitude 3.6)—yet notorious among Messier Marathon runners as the hardest object to spot at twilight, earning its nickname the 'Phantom Galaxy'.
- Because its 9.5-magnitude light is spread over a 10.5′ × 9.5′ face-on disk, its surface brightness is a very low ~23.2 mag/arcsec²; dark skies (Bortle 1–4) and low magnification (40×–70×) are mandatory.
- In a 300–400 mm (12–16 inch) telescope under pristine autumn skies, averted vision traces the two sweeping spiral arcs and faint H II knots winding outward from the small pinpoint core.
Catalog Cross-Identifications & Aliases
Common Aliases: M74 · NGC 628 · UGC 1149 · Phantom Galaxy
| Catalog Authority | Identifier |
|---|---|
| MESSIER | M 74 |
| NGC | NGC 628 |
| SIMBAD | M 74 |
| WIKIDATA | Q13999 |
Related Objects, Comparisons & Guides
Triangulum Galaxy (Messier 33 / NGC 598)
Coordinates, Cepheid/maser distance (859 kpc / 2.80 Mly), low surface brightness (23.0 mag/arcsec²), NGC 604 H II region, and observing guide for M33.
Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101 / NGC 5457)
J2000 coordinates, Cepheid/TRGB distance (21.6 Mly), magnitude 7.86, giant H II regions, SN 2011fe & SN 2023ixf, and observing guide for M101.
Coma Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 99 / NGC 4254)
J2000 coordinates, Tully-Fisher distance (49.6 Mly), magnitude 9.86, asymmetric one-armed spiral, VIRGOHI21 gas tail, and observing guide for M99.
Surface Brightness & Extended Objects Guide
Why surface brightness (mag/arcsec²) governs nebula and galaxy visibility more than integrated magnitude, and how exit pupil controls eyepiece contrast.
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale & Sky Brightness Guide
Reference guide to the 9-class Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, zenith Sky Quality Meter (SQM) readings in mag/arcsec², naked-eye limiting magnitude, and light pollution.
Scientific Sources & Dataset Provenance
- Revised New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue (RNGC/IC) (2024/2026 edition): Steinicke, W. 2010, Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters (Cambridge Univ. Press); Verga, M. OpenNGC (CC-BY-SA 4.0 / data tables) — Wolfgang Steinicke / OpenNGC
- SH0ES Local Distance Ladder Hubble Constant (2022 Baseline Cepheid + SN Ia): Riess, A. G., et al. 2022, ApJL, 934, L7 (A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant) — SH0ES Collaboration (HST / JWST)
- SIMBAD Astronomical Database (CDS) (2026-10 release): Wenger, M., et al. 2000, A&AS, 143, 9 (The SIMBAD astronomical database) — Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg