IC 509
IC 509
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · SABc
256 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
76k ly
across
13.2
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 256 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 509 as it looked roughly 256 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 2623Barred spiral10 million ly
apartNGC 2611Lenticular13 million ly
apartIC 2338Barred spiral15 million ly
apartIC 2339Spiral15 million ly
apartIC 2341Elliptical22 million ly
apartNGC 2569Elliptical25 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 2611Lenticular13 million ly
apartIC 2338Barred spiral15 million ly
apartIC 2339Spiral15 million ly
apartIC 2341Elliptical22 million ly
apartNGC 2569Elliptical25 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).