NGC 981
NGC 981
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sc
212 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
66k ly
across
14.5
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 212 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 981 as it looked roughly 212 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 1818Elliptical1.1 million ly
apartNGC 977Spiral1.2 million ly
apartNGC 948Spiral4.5 million ly
apartNGC 945Barred spiral5.0 million ly
apartNGC 1045Elliptical7.8 million ly
apartNGC 1006Spiral8.3 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 977Spiral1.2 million ly
apartNGC 948Spiral4.5 million ly
apartNGC 945Barred spiral5.0 million ly
apartNGC 1045Elliptical7.8 million ly
apartNGC 1006Spiral8.3 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).