NGC 3261
NGC 3261
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · Sbc
120 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
127k ly
across
11.4
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 120 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3261 as it looked roughly 120 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 3256CBarred spiral1.7 million ly
apartNGC 3256BBarred spiral7.1 million ly
apartNGC 3250BBarred spiral8.8 million ly
apartNGC 3250CSpiral9.8 million ly
apartNGC 3256Barred spiral11 million ly
apartNGC 3318BSpiral12 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 3256BBarred spiral7.1 million ly
apartNGC 3250BBarred spiral8.8 million ly
apartNGC 3250CSpiral9.8 million ly
apartNGC 3256Barred spiral11 million ly
apartNGC 3318BSpiral12 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).