IC 2978
IC 2978
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · SBcd
150 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
44k ly
across
15.4
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 150 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 2978 as it looked roughly 150 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 3966Lenticular1.3 million ly
apartNGC 3991 NED02Spiral2.1 million ly
apartNGC 3991 NED01Irregular2.3 million ly
apartIC 2973Barred spiral4.2 million ly
apartNGC 3995Spiral4.9 million ly
apartIC 2985Lenticular5.8 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 3991 NED02Spiral2.1 million ly
apartNGC 3991 NED01Irregular2.3 million ly
apartIC 2973Barred spiral4.2 million ly
apartNGC 3995Spiral4.9 million ly
apartIC 2985Lenticular5.8 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).