IC 686
IC 686
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sc
688 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
102k ly
across
15.6
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 688 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 686 as it looked roughly 688 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 3647Elliptical33 million ly
apartIC 678Elliptical34 million ly
apartIC 683Elliptical48 million ly
apartIC 2648Barred spiral70 million ly
apartIC 2807Barred spiral72 million ly
apartIC 2701Spiral77 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 678Elliptical34 million ly
apartIC 683Elliptical48 million ly
apartIC 2648Barred spiral70 million ly
apartIC 2807Barred spiral72 million ly
apartIC 2701Spiral77 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).