IC 1242
IC 1242
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · Sb
318 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
78k ly
across
14.9
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 318 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 1242 as it looked roughly 318 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 6296Spiral3.8 million ly
apartNGC 6240Lenticular33 million ly
apartNGC 6378Barred spiral33 million ly
apartNGC 6220Spiral39 million ly
apartNGC 6347Barred spiral75 million ly
apartNGC 6375Elliptical78 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 6240Lenticular33 million ly
apartNGC 6378Barred spiral33 million ly
apartNGC 6220Spiral39 million ly
apartNGC 6347Barred spiral75 million ly
apartNGC 6375Elliptical78 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).