NGC 4551
NGC 4551
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
55 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
27k ly
across
12.0
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 55 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 4551 as it looked roughly 55 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 3499Lenticular1.5 million ly
apartVirgo AElliptical1.8 million ly
apartIC 3684Elliptical1.9 million ly
apartIC 3665Irregular1.9 million ly
apartNGC 4564Elliptical2.3 million ly
apartNGC 4459Lenticular2.5 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartVirgo AElliptical1.8 million ly
apartIC 3684Elliptical1.9 million ly
apartIC 3665Irregular1.9 million ly
apartNGC 4564Elliptical2.3 million ly
apartNGC 4459Lenticular2.5 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).