NGC 6872
NGC 6872
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Barred spiral
type · SBb
217 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
296k ly
across
11.6
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 217 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 6872 as it looked roughly 217 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
IC 4970Elliptical4.8 million ly
apartIC 4971Barred spiral9.1 million ly
apartIC 4985Spiral9.8 million ly
apartIC 4887Spiral15 million ly
apartIC 4899Barred spiral20 million ly
apartIC 5054Barred spiral20 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartIC 4971Barred spiral9.1 million ly
apartIC 4985Spiral9.8 million ly
apartIC 4887Spiral15 million ly
apartIC 4899Barred spiral20 million ly
apartIC 5054Barred spiral20 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).