IC 4242
IC 4242
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · SBb
333 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
56k ly
across
16.0
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 333 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 4242 as it looked roughly 333 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 5187Barred spiral6.5 million ly
apartNGC 5157Spiral9.9 million ly
apartIC 4227Barred spiral14 million ly
apartNGC 5131Spiral14 million ly
apartIC 4256Barred spiral17 million ly
apartIC 4301Barred spiral19 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 5157Spiral9.9 million ly
apartIC 4227Barred spiral14 million ly
apartNGC 5131Spiral14 million ly
apartIC 4256Barred spiral17 million ly
apartIC 4301Barred 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).