IC 138
IC 138
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · SABc
216 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
70k ly
across
14.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 216 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 138 as it looked roughly 216 million years ago. The photons left before that much of history had passed, and are only now reaching us. This distance is estimated from the galaxy's redshift, so the lookback time is approximate.
Nearest galaxies
IC 120Lenticular7.5 million ly
apartNGC 565Spiral9.0 million ly
apartNGC 535Lenticular15 million ly
apartIC 1694Elliptical17 million ly
apartNGC 558Elliptical18 million ly
apartNGC 530Lenticular20 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 565Spiral9.0 million ly
apartNGC 535Lenticular15 million ly
apartIC 1694Elliptical17 million ly
apartNGC 558Elliptical18 million ly
apartNGC 530Lenticular20 million ly
apart
Source: structural data (position, morphology, brightness, redshift) from OpenNGC (CC BY-SA). Distance computed by gravityfinder from redshift via Hubble's law (H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc).