NGC 856
NGC 856
Illustration from its catalogued shape, not a photograph
Spiral
type · Sa
280 million ly
from Earth · from redshift
97k ly
across
16.5
apparent magnitude
Because its light is 280 million ly from home, you are seeing NGC 856 as it looked roughly 280 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 800Spiral14 million ly
apartNGC 799Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 867Lenticular22 million ly
apartNGC 934Elliptical22 million ly
apartNGC 926Barred spiral24 million ly
apartIC 234Barred spiral24 million ly
apart
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→apartNGC 799Barred spiral17 million ly
apartNGC 867Lenticular22 million ly
apartNGC 934Elliptical22 million ly
apartNGC 926Barred spiral24 million ly
apartIC 234Barred spiral24 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).