IC 4946
IC 4946
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Lenticular
type · S0-a
136 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
99k ly
across
11.9
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 136 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 4946 as it looked roughly 136 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 6902BSpiral2.9 million ly
apartNGC 6902Barred spiral5.0 million ly
apartNGC 6909Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6875Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6868Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6893Lenticular12 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 6902Barred spiral5.0 million ly
apartNGC 6909Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6875Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6868Elliptical12 million ly
apartNGC 6893Lenticular12 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).