NGC 3996
NGC 3996
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · Sb
323 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
78k ly
across
14.3
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 323 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3996 as it looked roughly 323 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 3008Barred spiral15 million ly
apartNGC 4126Lenticular19 million ly
apartIC 3029Barred spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4040Elliptical21 million ly
apartIC 2990Barred spiral22 million ly
apartNGC 4082Barred spiral23 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 4126Lenticular19 million ly
apartIC 3029Barred spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 4040Elliptical21 million ly
apartIC 2990Barred spiral22 million ly
apartNGC 4082Barred spiral23 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).