IC 3986
IC 3986
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
217 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
117k ly
across
13.3
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 217 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 3986 as it looked roughly 217 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 4903Spiral8.7 million ly
apartNGC 5126Lenticular20 million ly
apartNGC 5051Spiral21 million ly
apartNGC 5048Elliptical23 million ly
apartIC 4251Barred spiral25 million ly
apartNGC 4953Lenticular25 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 5126Lenticular20 million ly
apartNGC 5051Spiral21 million ly
apartNGC 5048Elliptical23 million ly
apartIC 4251Barred spiral25 million ly
apartNGC 4953Lenticular25 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).