How to Find Pisces
Finding Steps
Seasonal Visibility
| Month | Direction | Altitude at 10 PM | Observability |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | East-southeast, very late | ~5° | Very low, late night only |
| September | East, rising at midnight | ~15° | Becoming visible mid-evening |
| October | East-southeast, 50°+ altitude | ~50° | BEST MONTH — excellent height and darkness |
| November | Due south, still high | ~45° | Still very good, starting to set |
| December | Southwest, fading | ~25° | Setting earlier each night |
Key Stars of Pisces
Mythology & History
Deep-Sky Objects
Beginner Observing Guide
Observing Kit
Recommended equipment for observing Pisces
Kit we've tested and reviewed in full
Pisces rewards patience. Its stars are faint but the Circlet asterism is a satisfying finder target, and TX Piscium is one of the reddest stars you can observe with a small telescope — a carbon star so red it looks almost unreal. Sweep slowly and the area yields background galaxies too.
The Circlet — the small ring of stars marking the western fish's head — is a pleasing binocular pattern. TX Piscium's deep orange-red colour is noticeable even in binoculars against the blue-white background stars. Alpha Piscium is a slightly closer double that just splits in good binoculars. A useful constellation for navigating the Pegasus Square region.
TX Piscium at 50× is a deep red-orange carbon star — one of the coolest and reddest you can find. The colour intensifies at higher magnification. Alpha Piscium (Alrescha) is a tight but satisfying double at 150×. NGC 488, a beautiful face-on spiral galaxy, shows as a round glow with a brighter core — a rewarding find in a faint constellation.
NGC 488's spiral structure becomes more apparent at 150× with averted vision. NGC 524, a lenticular galaxy, shows as a smooth elliptical glow. The M74 group in nearby Pisces (though M74 is on the border with Aries) rewards 200mm on a dark night with its low surface-brightness arms. This area benefits from the longest possible dark adaptation and the steadiest seeing.
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Advanced Observing
Frequently Asked Questions About Pisces
How do I find Pisces in the night sky?
Pisces is a large but faint zodiac constellation. The most recognisable part is the Circlet — a small ring of five faint stars representing the western fish. Look for it south of the Great Square of Pegasus in autumn evenings. A long, curved chain of stars connects the Circlet westward to the second fish, which lies below Andromeda. No individual star in Pisces is particularly bright.
When is Pisces visible from the UK?
Pisces is best seen from the UK between October and December. It reaches its highest point in the south during November evenings, though it never gets very high from UK latitudes. The Sun passes through Pisces from mid-March to mid-April, so the constellation is not visible during that period.
What is the Vernal Equinox and its connection to Pisces?
The Vernal Equinox (spring equinox) is the moment each year when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving northward, around 20 March. The point in the sky where this crossing occurs is called the First Point of Aries, but due to the slow wobble of Earth's axis (precession), this point has migrated from Aries into Pisces over the past 2,000 years. It currently lies within Pisces and is slowly moving towards Aquarius.
What is the mythology of Pisces?
In Greek mythology, Pisces represents Aphrodite and her son Eros, who transformed themselves into fish and tied themselves together with a cord to escape the monster Typhon. The cord connecting the two fish in the constellation symbolises this link. In Babylonian tradition the constellation was associated with the tails of two fish and was linked to the goddess Anunitum.
What deep-sky objects are in Pisces?
Pisces lies away from the galactic plane, so it lacks bright clusters and nebulae, but it contains several interesting galaxies. The Circlet Galaxy (M74) is one of the most face-on spiral galaxies in the sky — beautiful in photographs but notoriously faint and challenging to observe visually, requiring dark skies and a medium telescope. It is considered one of the hardest Messier objects.
What stars make up Pisces?
Pisces has no particularly bright stars. Eta Piscium is the brightest at magnitude 3.6 — a yellow giant about 294 light-years away. Alrescha (Alpha Piscium) marks the knot where the cords tying the two fish together meet; it is a close binary star. The Circlet is formed by five stars including Gamma, Kappa, Lambda, Iota, and Theta Piscium.