IC 642
IC 642
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E-S0
280 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
118k ly
across
13.9
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 280 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 642 as it looked roughly 280 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 3426Elliptical6.8 million ly
apartNGC 3405 NED02Elliptical13 million ly
apartNGC 3303 NED02Spiral16 million ly
apartNGC 3303 NED01Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 3363Barred spiral22 million ly
apartIC 616Spiral23 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 3405 NED02Elliptical13 million ly
apartNGC 3303 NED02Spiral16 million ly
apartNGC 3303 NED01Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 3363Barred spiral22 million ly
apartIC 616Spiral23 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).