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Galaxy · Lenticular

NGC 1208

NGC 1208 is a galaxy in the direction of the constellation Eridanus, 203.0 million light-years away.

TypeLenticular
ConstellationEridanus
Distance203.0 million light-years (62.23 Mpc)
Diameter147,200 light-years · 1.7 × the Milky Way
Absolute magnitudemagnitude −22.20
Apparent magnitudemagnitude 11.77
Luminosity3.3 × the Milky Way
Right ascension (J2000)3h 06m 11.9s
Declination (J2000)−9° 32′ 29″
Source2MASS Redshift Survey (Huchra et al. 2012)

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 11.77. Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 80° N. It stands highest at midnight in November, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 203 million years ago. At that time dinosaurs ruled the Earth. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 3,600.5 billion years.

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