IC 3871
IC 3871
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
905 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
137k ly
across
16.5
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 905 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 3871 as it looked roughly 905 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 3860Galaxy6.4 million ly
apartIC 3907Spiral8.3 million ly
apartIC 3881Barred spiral11 million ly
apartIC 3884Barred spiral12 million ly
apartIC 3931Barred spiral19 million ly
apartIC 3815Barred spiral19 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 3907Spiral8.3 million ly
apartIC 3881Barred spiral11 million ly
apartIC 3884Barred spiral12 million ly
apartIC 3931Barred spiral19 million ly
apartIC 3815Barred spiral19 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).