NGC 3978
NGC 3978
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · SABb
463 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
213k ly
across
12.7
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 463 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 3978 as it looked roughly 463 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 3975Spiral3.1 million ly
apartNGC 4054 NED02Spiral26 million ly
apartNGC 4054 NED01Barred spiral26 million ly
apartNGC 4054 NED03Lenticular28 million ly
apartNGC 3846Barred spiral42 million ly
apartNGC 4172Spiral48 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 4054 NED02Spiral26 million ly
apartNGC 4054 NED01Barred spiral26 million ly
apartNGC 4054 NED03Lenticular28 million ly
apartNGC 3846Barred spiral42 million ly
apartNGC 4172Spiral48 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).