NGC 5978
NGC 5978
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sa
340 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
80k ly
across
15.6
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 340 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 5978 as it looked roughly 340 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 5995Spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 5959Elliptical21 million ly
apartNGC 5883Lenticular43 million ly
apartNGC 5880Elliptical43 million ly
apartNGC 5872Lenticular48 million ly
apartNGC 5849Lenticular52 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 5959Elliptical21 million ly
apartNGC 5883Lenticular43 million ly
apartNGC 5880Elliptical43 million ly
apartNGC 5872Lenticular48 million ly
apartNGC 5849Lenticular52 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).