IC 251
IC 251
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
345 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
84k ly
across
15.0
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 345 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 251 as it looked roughly 345 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 1065Elliptical1.5 million ly
apartIC 253Lenticular1.6 million ly
apartIC 252Lenticular2.9 million ly
apartIC 254Galaxy8.1 million ly
apartNGC 989Lenticular16 million ly
apartNGC 1098Elliptical17 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 253Lenticular1.6 million ly
apartIC 252Lenticular2.9 million ly
apartIC 254Galaxy8.1 million ly
apartNGC 989Lenticular16 million ly
apartNGC 1098Elliptical17 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).