NGC 3871
NGC 3871
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · Sb
450 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
123k ly
across
15.3
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 450 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3871 as it looked roughly 450 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 2952Barred spiral3.7 million ly
apartIC 726Elliptical5.8 million ly
apartNGC 3847Elliptical7.9 million ly
apartNGC 3881Elliptical14 million ly
apartNGC 3878Elliptical14 million ly
apartIC 729Lenticular14 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 726Elliptical5.8 million ly
apartNGC 3847Elliptical7.9 million ly
apartNGC 3881Elliptical14 million ly
apartNGC 3878Elliptical14 million ly
apartIC 729Lenticular14 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).