NGC 3974
NGC 3974
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Lenticular
type · S0-a
256 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
88k ly
across
14.3
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 256 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3974 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
IC 761Barred spiral12 million ly
apartNGC 3970Lenticular14 million ly
apartNGC 3831Lenticular17 million ly
apartNGC 3905Spiral18 million ly
apartIC 747Elliptical19 million ly
apartNGC 3854Spiral20 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 3970Lenticular14 million ly
apartNGC 3831Lenticular17 million ly
apartNGC 3905Spiral18 million ly
apartIC 747Elliptical19 million ly
apartNGC 3854Spiral20 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).