IC 438
IC 438
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · SABc
146 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
119k ly
across
12.1
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 146 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 438 as it looked roughly 146 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 2151Barred spiral1.2 million ly
apartIC 2143Barred spiral5.2 million ly
apartNGC 2124Barred spiral10 million ly
apartNGC 1993Elliptical11 million ly
apartNGC 2073Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 2089Elliptical14 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 2143Barred spiral5.2 million ly
apartNGC 2124Barred spiral10 million ly
apartNGC 1993Elliptical11 million ly
apartNGC 2073Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 2089Elliptical14 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).