IC 42
IC 42
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · SABc
770 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
170k ly
across
15.4
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 770 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 42 as it looked roughly 770 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 38Spiral16 million ly
apartIC 37Barred spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 333BLenticular60 million ly
apartIC 60Spiral65 million ly
apartIC 1602Elliptical88 million ly
apartIC 80 NED02Elliptical90 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 37Barred spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 333BLenticular60 million ly
apartIC 60Spiral65 million ly
apartIC 1602Elliptical88 million ly
apartIC 80 NED02Elliptical90 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).