NGC 553
NGC 553
NGC 553 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Pisces about 236 million ly from Earth. It spans roughly 62,000 ly, about 62% of our Milky Way's width. The light reaching us tonight left it about 236 million years ago.
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Lenticular
type · S0
236 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
62k ly
across
14.9
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 236 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 553 as it looked roughly 236 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 1691Lenticular2.1 million ly
apartNGC 515Lenticular2.3 million ly
apartIC 1688Elliptical2.7 million ly
apartNGC 501Elliptical4.9 million ly
apartIC 1687Lenticular5.2 million ly
apartIC 1673Elliptical5.2 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 515Lenticular2.3 million ly
apartIC 1688Elliptical2.7 million ly
apartNGC 501Elliptical4.9 million ly
apartIC 1687Lenticular5.2 million ly
apartIC 1673Elliptical5.2 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).