NGC 542
NGC 542
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · Sbc
217 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
64k ly
across
15.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 217 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 542 as it looked roughly 217 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 531Lenticular1.9 million ly
apartNGC 561Spiral3.4 million ly
apartNGC 483Barred spiral5.7 million ly
apartNGC 587Spiral7.1 million ly
apartIC 1690Lenticular7.4 million ly
apartIC 1689Lenticular7.9 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 561Spiral3.4 million ly
apartNGC 483Barred spiral5.7 million ly
apartNGC 587Spiral7.1 million ly
apartIC 1690Lenticular7.4 million ly
apartIC 1689Lenticular7.9 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).