NGC 5542
NGC 5542
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Elliptical
type · E
360 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
63k ly
across
14.8
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 360 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 5542 as it looked roughly 360 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 5549Lenticular3.2 million ly
apartNGC 5552Barred spiral4.4 million ly
apartNGC 5554Barred spiral11 million ly
apartNGC 5575Lenticular12 million ly
apartNGC 5573Barred spiral13 million ly
apartNGC 5519Barred spiral14 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 5552Barred spiral4.4 million ly
apartNGC 5554Barred spiral11 million ly
apartNGC 5575Lenticular12 million ly
apartNGC 5573Barred spiral13 million ly
apartNGC 5519Barred spiral14 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).