IC 271
IC 271
IC 271 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Eridanus about 75 million ly from Earth. It spans roughly 23,000 ly, about 23% of our Milky Way's width. The light reaching us tonight left it about 75 million years ago.
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Lenticular
type · S0-a
75 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
23k ly
across
14.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 75 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 271 as it looked roughly 75 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
NGC 1172Elliptical4.4 million ly
apartNGC 1140Barred spiral5.9 million ly
apartNGC 988Spiral8.4 million ly
apartNGC 1052Elliptical9.1 million ly
apartNGC 991Spiral9.4 million ly
apartNGC 1034Irregular9.8 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 1140Barred spiral5.9 million ly
apartNGC 988Spiral8.4 million ly
apartNGC 1052Elliptical9.1 million ly
apartNGC 991Spiral9.4 million ly
apartNGC 1034Irregular9.8 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).