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Galaxy · Irregular

ESO 473-024

ESO 473-024 is a galaxy in the direction of the constellation Cetus, 32.3 million light-years away.

TypeIrregular
ConstellationCetus
Distance32.3 million light-years (9.90 Mpc)
Diameter14,500 light-years · 0.17 × the Milky Way
Absolute magnitudemagnitude −14.30
Apparent magnitudemagnitude 15.68
Luminosity0.0023 × the Milky Way
Right ascension (J2000)0h 31m 22.5s
Declination (J2000)−22° 45′ 57″
SourceUpdated Nearby Galaxy Catalog (Karachentsev et al. 2013)

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 15.68. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 67° N. South of latitude 67° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 32 million years ago. At that time the dinosaurs were gone and mammals were diversifying; there was no human lineage yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 572.8 billion years.

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