IC 3606
IC 3606
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
1.6 billion ly
from Earth · from redshift
286k ly
across
16.5
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 1.6 billion ly from home, you are seeing IC 3606 as it looked roughly 1.6 billion 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 3558Barred spiral300 million ly
apartIC 3447Spiral330 million ly
apartIC 3138 NED01Elliptical330 million ly
apartIC 3418Irregular360 million ly
apartIC 3870Barred spiral370 million ly
apartIC 3031Barred spiral380 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 3447Spiral330 million ly
apartIC 3138 NED01Elliptical330 million ly
apartIC 3418Irregular360 million ly
apartIC 3870Barred spiral370 million ly
apartIC 3031Barred spiral380 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).