IC 2946
IC 2946
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · SBab
457 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
61k ly
across
15.0
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 457 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 2946 as it looked roughly 457 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 2952Barred spiral16 million ly
apartIC 726Elliptical17 million ly
apartNGC 3871Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 3878Elliptical18 million ly
apartNGC 3880Elliptical20 million ly
apartNGC 3847Elliptical20 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 726Elliptical17 million ly
apartNGC 3871Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 3878Elliptical18 million ly
apartNGC 3880Elliptical20 million ly
apartNGC 3847Elliptical20 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).