IC 4478
IC 4478
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
256 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
43k ly
across
15.3
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 256 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 4478 as it looked roughly 256 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 5628Elliptical18 million ly
apartNGC 5655Barred spiral19 million ly
apartIC 4469Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 5648Barred spiral20 million ly
apartNGC 5702Lenticular21 million ly
apartIC 1000Lenticular24 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 5655Barred spiral19 million ly
apartIC 4469Spiral19 million ly
apartNGC 5648Barred spiral20 million ly
apartNGC 5702Lenticular21 million ly
apartIC 1000Lenticular24 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).