NGC 494
NGC 494
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sab
257 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
139k ly
across
12.8
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 257 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 494 as it looked roughly 257 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 508Elliptical1,000,000 ly
apartIC 1692Lenticular2.4 million ly
apartIC 1677Spiral2.7 million ly
apartNGC 447Lenticular7.8 million ly
apartNGC 566Lenticular8.0 million ly
apartIC 1648Lenticular8.7 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 1692Lenticular2.4 million ly
apartIC 1677Spiral2.7 million ly
apartNGC 447Lenticular7.8 million ly
apartNGC 566Lenticular8.0 million ly
apartIC 1648Lenticular8.7 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).