IC 3946
IC 3946
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Lenticular
type · S0
276 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
69k ly
across
14.0
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 276 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 3946 as it looked roughly 276 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 4896Elliptical3.6 million ly
apartNGC 4850Lenticular4.4 million ly
apartNGC 4873Lenticular4.5 million ly
apartNGC 4892Lenticular4.6 million ly
apartNGC 4840Elliptical5.7 million ly
apartNGC 4907Barred spiral5.8 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 4850Lenticular4.4 million ly
apartNGC 4873Lenticular4.5 million ly
apartNGC 4892Lenticular4.6 million ly
apartNGC 4840Elliptical5.7 million ly
apartNGC 4907Barred spiral5.8 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).