NGC 3551
NGC 3551
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
445 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
178k ly
across
14.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 445 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3551 as it looked roughly 445 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 3555Elliptical5.0 million ly
apartNGC 3653Lenticular42 million ly
apartNGC 3473Barred spiral45 million ly
apartNGC 3474Elliptical47 million ly
apartNGC 3563BLenticular48 million ly
apartNGC 3487Spiral50 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 3653Lenticular42 million ly
apartNGC 3473Barred spiral45 million ly
apartNGC 3474Elliptical47 million ly
apartNGC 3563BLenticular48 million ly
apartNGC 3487Spiral50 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).