IC 540
IC 540
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sab
95 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
30k ly
across
14.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 95 million ly from home, you are seeing IC 540 as it looked roughly 95 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 2894Spiral4.1 million ly
apartNGC 2882Spiral4.3 million ly
apartNGC 2962Lenticular6.6 million ly
apartNGC 2966Spiral7.5 million ly
apartNGC 2906Spiral13 million ly
apartNGC 2725Spiral13 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 2882Spiral4.3 million ly
apartNGC 2962Lenticular6.6 million ly
apartNGC 2966Spiral7.5 million ly
apartNGC 2906Spiral13 million ly
apartNGC 2725Spiral13 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).